Students protests use of Afrikaans as a teaching language in South Africa

Students at the University of Pretoria, South Africa are up in arms over the use of Afrikaans as an official teaching language. Following days of violent protests, the university administration has reportedly resolved to conduct all lessons in English only. CCTV's Julie Scheier has the story

[Amadeus-mslt]

So English is not colonial but Afrikaans is?

[lachry]

“Afrikaans is a colonial language so it’s bad, let’s replace with a far more brutal and widespread colonial language

[WiseLittleOwl]

Why remove Afrikaans classes when you can add classes in other native languages? That way more people can be accommodated.
Removing a language is a step backwards, not forward.

[An-kwec]

In Mexico we used to have 60 different lenguages and nobody cares about it, people can barely speak Spanish so😂😂😂😂

[anglo-irishmapping]

You’re protesting against an entire language because of apartheid, and then replace it with English, the language of the largest empire that ever existed.

What. The. Hell?

[liquidsnakeckw]

I've seen some dumb things in my life, but to ban a language because of it's history is just about the dumbest

[codfish]

So is English *less* colonial than Afrikaans???

Didn't the Brits rule literally HALF the planet at one point?

[Tshepisio]

As a Black South African who did Sepedi as home language and English as 1st additional language
It kinda felt unfair to do every subject in English which is not my language and someone out there got to do it in their own language
But removing it is like taking 10000 steps backward. Why can't we learn from the past I mean yes it was sour but removing a whole language that's like wiping away the whole culture
If they do that to Afrikaans why not do it to every language
All I am saying is involve more languages into the education system
If someone can do Math, Physics, Life Sciences, Geography e.c.t subjects in their mother tongue why can't I in my own African language
It may take time but if they could do it we also can
But destroying a whole language like how dumber can you get??

[malem]

I'm confused. What's wrong with people speaking Afrikaans? Can someone tell me what's going on here?

[DavidSternburgYt]

"We are in a democratic state, why are we still using afrikaans?" Surely thats the point of a free democratic state? So peoole have the right to speak whatever language they want

[hf]

The majority of afrikaans speakers are coloured people

[nmokoh]

1:14 my guy...so what if we are in a democratic state? I get it that apartheid was a crisis but you can't remove a language, literally people still speak it as their native language and also why not add more languages than to just remove it? Like seriously 🤦🏾‍♀️ protest to add Zulu or something not to remove Afrikaans, you're just going to offend the people who speak afrikaans and cause chaos and I think that's one of the problems we are facing in South Africa, we are still carrying the grudge of apartheid from generation to generation. Being innovative is a lacking skill that is needed :(

[NgolaNalane]

This video is EXTREMELY inaccurate and biased. The real reason why Afrikaans was discontinued in South African universities is not a racist move. It was removed because it does not have the same international standing or reach such as English. Afrikaans is the home language of approximately 12% of the population. Black South Africans who make up the majority of the country mostly speak Zulu and xhosa as their home languages but in order to study they have to do so in their second language which is English. That being said the majority of South Africans are excluded by universities who have an Afrikaans language policy. Afrikaans people do understand English so it is only fair that all universities be in English in order for all South Africans to have an equal opportunity to study.

[DavidTheConqueror]

All languages in South Africa need to be taught at universities equally, Including Afrikaans. Every language is an important part of history and should not be abandoned. If you want to learn in Afrikaans, its your freedom. I woud not mind lectures in the local south African languages too. Hell, I find beauty in every language

[JimboLogic]

"A more diverse and unified country."

Well that sure worked out well.

[maxym]

Wait, is this a satire. This looks like satire too much

[HIM]

The best way to divide a country is by divine their language first.

[cynhwon]

By that logic, we shouldn’t even speak English😅

[kiyenmoodley]

South Africans: *laughs in 11 official languages*

[jeffmorse]

There are over seven million native Afrikaans speakers in South Africa. The majority of them are not white. To dismiss the language as a relic of apartheid and racism is just ignorant. Its history stretches back 350 years and it has just as much right to be used as any language. Now if you pay for a university course in English and it is being taught either partly or fully in Afrikaans that's a problem, but to demand the banning of all instruction in that language for no other reason than race hatred or revenge is just racist and counter productive.