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Media verklaring - 21 Desember 2021
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Afrikaans sal voortbestaan en presteer ten spyte van Nzimande
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Verklaring deur die Afrikanerbond
Afrikaans sal voortbestaan en presteer ten spyte van Nzimande
Die Afrikanerbond is nie verbaas dat Minister Blade Nzimande se taalbeleidraamwerk vir tersiêre instellings eersdaags onveranderd in werking gaan tree nie en dat Afrikaans, Khoi, San en Nama uitgesluit is as inheemse tale nie.
Nzimande se minagtende houding oor Afrikaans is in September reeds gedemonstreer met sy stelling dat Afrikaans “uit 'n wit regse agenda gered moet word.” Soortgelyke opmerkings is in 2014 deur Nzimande gemaak oor Afrikaans by NWU en is terme soos volkstaat en apartheid enklaves ook kwistig ingespan deur die minister. Dit het reeds sy onderliggende en dieperliggende afkeur van enigiets wat Afrikaans is gedemonstreer en moes ons weet dat taaldiversiteit ongelukkig deur sy ideologiese bril geëvalueer sou word. Dit het inderdaad so gebeur.
Taaldiversiteit is skynbaar ook nie iets wat deur Minister en sy Departement van Hoër Onderwys toegepas word nie, want die webwerf van die departement is slegs in Engels. Taalkaping deur Engelse herkolonialisering het dus al lankal in die departement posgevat eerder as om skeppend en kreatief oplossings vir Afrikaans en ander inheemse tale te vind.
Deur te bluf, te mislei en ideologies eng om te gaan met die taalbeleidraamwerk vir tersiêre instellings het Minister Nzimande getoon dat hy en sy departement eenvoudig nie vertrou kan word met taalregte nie en dat hulle eerder die land se ryke diversiteit sal laat verengels en sodoende ook uit te sluit, as om iets konstruktief by te dra tot die beskerming en bevordering van inheemse tale, Afrikaans ingesluit. Die toenemende verengelsing van ons universiteite is nie goeie nuus vir enige van Suid-Afrika se inheemse tale nie. Dieselfde lot as Afrikaans, Khoi, San en Nama wag op die ander tale.
Die Afrikanerbond glo dat wedersydse respek vir die taalregte van ons land se mense ‘n hoeksteen is van gesonde samelewing. Die realiteit is dat die Grondwet bepaalde taalreëlings bevat wat tot dusver nie na behore nagekom is nie. Die neiging tot sover was om ‘n meertalige Suid-Afrika te dwing na ‘n Engels-eentalige Suid-Afrika. Dit word nou in die beleidsraamwerk verdere momentum gegee.
Die uitdaging vir die Afrikaanse taalgemeenskap is om te weet dat die aanslag op Afrikaans sal voortgaan in elke sfeer van die samelewing en in opvoeding en dat die taalgemeenskap en al sy sprekers oor grense heen kreatief en skeppend moet omgaan met die taal. Afrikaans sal voortbestaan en presteer ten spyte van taalimperialiste soos Nzimande.
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Statement by the Afrikanerbond
Afrikaans will continue to exist and excel despite Nzimande
It does not surprise the Afrikanerbond that Minister Blade Nzimande's language policy framework for tertiary institutions will soon come into effect unchanged and that Afrikaans, Khoi, San and Nama have been excluded as indigenous languages.
Nzimande already demonstrated his contemptuous attitude towards Afrikaans in September with his statement that Afrikaans "must be saved from a white right-wing agenda". Nzimande made similar remarks about Afrikaans at NWU in 2014, throwing around terms such as nation-state and apartheid enclaves. At the time, it demonstrated his underlying and deep-seated rejection of anything Afrikaans, and we should have known then already that linguistic diversity would, unfortunately, be evaluated through his ideological lens. That is indeed what has happened.
Moreover, language diversity as such is apparently not something that is honoured by the Minister and his Department of Higher Education, judging by the fact that the department's website appears in English only. Language hijacking through English recolonisation has evidently long taken hold in the department rather than creative solutions being sought for Afrikaans and other indigenous languages.
By bluffing, deceiving and dealing narrow-mindedly with the language policy framework for tertiary institutions from an ideological point of view, Minister Nzimande has shown that he and his department simply cannot be trusted with language rights and that they would rather see the country's rich diversity being anglicised and, so, excluded, than contribute something constructive to the protection and promotion of indigenous languages, Afrikaans included. The increasing anglicisation of our universities is not good news for any of South Africa's indigenous languages. The same fate as Afrikaans, Khoi, San and Nama awaits the other languages.
The Afrikanerbond believes that mutual respect for the language rights of a country's people forms a cornerstone of a healthy society. The reality is that the Constitution contains certain language stipulations that have not been properly complied with so far. The tendency thus far has been to corral a multilingual South Africa towards becoming only an English-speaking South Africa. This is now being given further momentum through the policy framework.
The challenge for the Afrikaans language community is to know that the onslaught on Afrikaans will continue in every sphere of society, including education, and that the language community and all its speakers across various cultures should approach the language creatively. Afrikaans will continue to exist and excel despite language imperialists like Nzimande.
