Hon Chair, the hon Mulder couldn't be here, so I will be conveying the message to the Minister instead.
Die uitsluitlike gebruik van Engels as onderrigtaal in baie Suid-Afrikaanse en Afrika-universiteite is 'n bron van groot kommer vir taalkundiges. In 'n artikel getiteld The State of African Languages and the Global Language Politics: Empowering African Languages in the Era of Globalisation stel prof Zaline Roy-Campbell dit soos volg ... (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[The exclusive use of English as medium of instruction at many South African and African universities is a cause of great concern to linguists. In an article titled The State of African Languages and the Global Language Politics: Empowering African Languages in the Era of Globalisation, Prof Zaline Roy-Campbell puts it as follows:
One result of the disuse of African languages in education, and the devaluation of the knowledge embodied in these languages, is the positioning of Africa as a receiver rather than a contributor. African countries receive knowledge, know-how, technology, books, etc, from other countries, particularly in the West, but are not seen to contribute anything of recognised value to the global knowledge pool.
We want this century to be the African century. How can we be happy with this kind of situation? At the moment a significant part of the Afrikaans- speaking community feels that the government does not regard multilingualism and mother-tongue education at tertiary level as a serious matter.
For instance, the University of Cape Town decided that English would be its only medium of instruction, and there was no reaction from the government's side, even though this is a university in a province where 60% of the population is Afrikaans-speaking. With such a decision the University of Cape Town makes itself inaccessible to many of Afrikaans-speaking students. In the same breath, may I remind the House that the majority of Afrikaans speakers in South Africa and the Western Cape are not white people. On the other hand, the University of Stellenbosch is constantly under pressure because of its language policy.
This confirms the suspicions of Afrikaans-speaking citizens. It also creates the impression that English is deliberately used to oust Afrikaans and the other official languages at university level. There must be a clear distinction between language as a communication instrument, language as an instrument for formulating thought, and language as a medium of instruction. This does not mean that English is not important. As a communication instrument, English is a great asset for many South Africans because it gives one access to a large part of the world. Therefore, government can consider making communication English a compulsory subject at tertiary institutions for all those students who are educated in any one of the other official languages. Communication English should, therefore, not be confused with English as the medium of instruction or English as the medium for formulating thoughts.
Approximately nine years ago, Prof Jakes Gerwel, as head of an informal committee, reported to the former Minister of Education on the place of Afrikaans in the higher education system. He recommended that the Minister give two specific institutions instructions to see to the continued growth and development of Afrikaans as an academic and a scientific language in conjunction with the educational and scientific roles. The recommendation was made within the broader framework of promoting multilingualism in South Africa.
Furthermore, it was argued that social diversity, including and especially language diversity, is one of our fundamental values in the vision of our society as expressed by and contained in our Constitution. According to Prof Gerwel, when the announcement of the findings of the committee was made nine years ago, it was already clear that the use of Afrikaans was fast being eroded at most of the historically Afrikaans universities. Thank you. [Time expired.]