The Democratic Alliance (DA) will immediately take Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Khampepe report on legal review. The report, which was released today by retired judge Sisi Khampepe, outrageously scapegoats the Afrikaans language for any and all problems at the university.

Since Wim de Villiers became rector of the institution, SU has perpetrated various injustices against Afrikaans students, including by banning them from speaking Afrikaans in residences and in public - a violation that the DA referred to the Human Rights Commission.

But the Khampepe report escalates the attack on Afrikaans to unprecedented levels by effectively blaming the seven million speakers of Afrikaans - the most diverse language in South Africa - for any and all racial tensions and incidents like the urination scandal. It is clear that this finding is designed to provide De Villiers with the excuse he has long sought to completely eliminate Afrikaans as an academic language.

Equating Afrikaans with racism is not only a disgusting insult to an entire language community in South Africa. It is also completely irrational, based on anecdotal and wholly unrepresentative evidence, and at odds with everything our constitutional democracy stands for.

That is why the DA has immediately instructed our lawyers to take SU’s Khampepe report on review in court. As the leading political champion for language rights in Parliament, the DA will spare no cost and leave no stone unturned to protect the dignity of our indigenous languages - including Afrikaans.

 

Issued by Dr Leon Schreiber MP - DA Constituency Head: Stellenbosch