Advocates for Afrikaans education will have to invoke section 235 of the South African Constitution if they are to survive the current onslaught by the Minister of Basic Education, the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee and the Department.
This is the view of the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) following a meeting of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Basic Education which was briefed by the Department on Tuesday.
The party also notes with concern that Education Minister Ms Siviwe Gwarube, a DA member, is aligning herself with the Department’s anti-Afrikaans agenda.
Section 235 of South Africa’s Constitution recognises the right of any community sharing a common cultural and linguistic heritage to self-determination within a specific territory or in any other manner determined by national legislation, subject to the other provisions of the Constitution.
It entrenches the right to Afrikaans education, but those advocating for Afrikaans will have to take the lead in exercising this right.
There are nearly 20 000 schools in South Africa and only about 1 800 were formerly Model C schools. Yet the Department indicated that these schools are specifically being targeted with the aim of reforming their language policies.
The reason for the targeted reform is that these schools are located in multilingual areas. The Minister has reportedly stated in the media that Model C schools are not being targeted, though, they are merely first in line.
The argument does not hold water when one considers that the same report states the gradual introduction of African languages is essential to improve the learning experience of learners from previously disadvantaged communities.
The key phrase here is mother-tongue-based bilingual education, since considerable development of learning materials in African languages is still required.
This means the 18 000 schools that were never Model C schools should take precedence. Moreover, before the adoption of the BELA Act, the Department itself argued that increasing multilingualism in township schools was the reason it wanted final say over schools’ language policies.
Its most recent response, however, betrays an underlying hostility towards single-medium Afrikaans schools. The briefing revealed that there are only 639 Afrikaans-medium schools countrywide and that 274 of them have already added English as a medium of instruction.
There is no way that the remaining 365 Afrikaans schools can, in a functional system, undermine the education of non-Afrikaans speakers.
Nevertheless, the committee chairperson, Ms Joy Maimela, took it a step further be making the unsubstantiated claim that language policy is used as a barrier to admission at former Model C schools. She, therefore, welcomes the Department’s intense focus on these schools.
It is clear that the ANC and like-minded parties want the general demographics of the entire country reflected in every school. This rules out the possibility that Afrikaners – or any minority group – can exercise education as a cultural right.
Until now, Afrikaans schools have deliberately tried to stay out of political controversy, thus demonstrating a reluctance to invoke section 235 of the Constitution.
This approach will have to change, because it is the last legal bulwark against a government intent on oppressing Afrikaans education.
