DA wants SAHRC to set aside Nzimande's Afrikaans ‘foreign language’ classification
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande's comments, classifying Afrikaans as a foreign language in South Africa, are hateful and unconstitutional.
The party's filed a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission.
This after the Constitutional Court ruled last week that the University of South Africa (UNISA) had to change its language policy to reintroduce Afrikaans from 2023.
The institution discontinued Afrikaans as a language of instruction five years ago.
"Given that Nzimande has ignored us so far in this matter and continuous to insist on defining Afikaans as a foreign language despite what the Constitutional Court has said, it is now time for the Human Rights Commission to step in, says DA MP toon Schreiber.
"We employ the commission to take up this matter with Nzimande and force him to include Afrikaans in the police frameworks definition of indigenous languages sp that it can take its rightful place as an official of indigenous and equal South African language language.”
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has rejected the Constitutional Court ruling that allows for Afrikaans to be reinstated as a dual medium of instruction at Unisa.
It believes the apex court ignored the link between race and language in context of the country's history.
