Issued by: Office of the President
JOINT STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE AND THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
A false impression is being created that the President and the Minister of Education are at variance on the role and future of Afrikaans in Higher institutions of learning.
Their pronouncements on this question are a positive contribution to the open and democratic discourse on the role and use of languages in public institutions; a discourse which should be handled with sensitivity especially by political, academic and other leaders.
Our constitution provides that all public institutions, including universities, belong to all South Africans, irrespective of race, class, language, gender or religion. It is in the light of this that the President and the Minister have, on numerous occasions, urged various "Afrikaans Universities" to examine their role under the new dispensation. They have encouraged these institutions to develop language policies which cater for the rights of all students.
The President and the Minister wish to reaffirm that this principle does not preclude the possibility that some tertiary institutions will have one language or another as the dominant medium of instruction.
The government rejects the insinuation that it seeks to undermine the cultural and linguistic heritage of Afrikaans-speaking communities. We are convinced that this heritage will flourish in a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society.
Attempts to use the issue of language to resist transformation and to pursue divisive political agendas do not assist the rational and dispassionate search for solutions that will guarantee South Africa's unity in diversity.
29 June 1997
For further information contact: Joel Netshitenzhe/Loncoln Mali