AfriForum Youth fights for Afrikaans at Grootfontein Agricultural College

AfriForum Youth today declared a dispute with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, after it came to light that the Department wants to change the language policy of the Grootfontein Agricultural College in the Eastern Cape from 2016. The plan is to abolish Afrikaans and to change it to an English college. 

“We will strongly oppose the planned change. We have already consulted with our legal team. We have also requested an urgent meeting with the Department, and that no further steps are to be taken before the dispute is resolved,” Henk Maree, National Chairperson of AfriForum Youth, said. 

The branch of the youth organisation at the Grootfontein College has at least 100 members which represents about 50 % of the total student community.

“A petition will be distributed among students this week, which will clearly show the support and demand of students for Afrikaans as language of education,” Maree said.

The Department earlier promised that Afrikaans would exist as a main language of education and that a scenario would be avoided in which a language is used as mechanism to exclude students. Maree says the Department is now acting in contradiction to their earlier standpoint.

“We merely want to ensure that the Department keeps to their initial promises.”

Read our letter to the department HERE