A local activist group is attempting to ensure that Stellenbosch University’s (SU) revised language policy for 2021 remains progressive in terms of prioritising access and equal opportunities for SU students and staff. This is according to Open Stellenbosch, an organisation which according to its Facebook page aims to “purge the oppressive remnants of apartheid in pursuit of a truley African university”.
Open Stellenbosch is encouraging members of the university to take part in the review process for the policy, according to a written response from Open Stellenbosch. The group aims to remove any policy that might “undermine” equitable education, it added.
“We have encouraged alumni, students and faculty to participate in the official policy review process by making individual submissions,” stated Open Stellenbosch in email correspondence with MatieMedia.
According to Open Stellenbosch, they hope to protect what they deemed to be progressive changes achieved in the SU language policy 2016, and to make the revised policy more progressive.
“It is important that as alumni and staff who do not form part of the historically conservative Afrikaans alumni groups, that we protect our gains and call for a more progressive policy,” said representatives of Open Stellenbosch.
DA and Stellenbosch University criticized
According to a statement made by Open Stellenbosch on Facebook earlier in April, the progress that was made in the SU language policy 2016 is now being threatened by what it called conservative Afrikaans groups.
The group also alleged that the Democratic Alliance (DA) is attempting to force SU to make Afrikaans the primary language of instruction.
“This issue [the SU language policy] has been twisted by the DA and its allies to mobilise regressive parts of our society to attack the 2016 policy and reverse important gains made and to appeal to conservative white Afrikaans voters in an election year,” said Open Stellenbosch representatives.
Open Stellenbosch’s claims that the DA aims to make Afrikaans the main language of instruction at SU are “blatant lies”, according to Leon Schreiber, a DA representative.
“On the one side [of the language policy debate] stands [Professor Wim] de Villiers alongside his handful of radical Open Stellenbosch members that want to do away with Afrikaans for ideological reasons and on the other side stands the DA with the once silent majority,” said Schreiber in WhatsApp correspondence with MatieMedia.
The DA recently criticized SU’s language policy and accused the university of being anti-Afrikaans, according to an Eyewitness News (EWN) article.
In their initial Facebook statement, Open Stellenbosch further alleged that there have been cases of verbal intimidation against black students and progressive staff members at SU. They claim those affected are being forced to speak Afrikaans in their residences and lecture halls.
“The university is not aware of incidents in the recent past of ‘verbal intimidation’ that black students or staff have experienced, or where they have been forced to speak Afrikaans,” said Martin Viljoen, spokesperson for SU, in an emailed response.