The ANC must reassess its racially prejudiced laws and afford everyone equal opportunities, said Freedom Front Plus leader Petrus “Pieter” Groenewald, accusing the government of discrimination and attacking Afrikaans schools.
“The ANC government is very selective in dealing with human rights in South Africa, so minorities feel like mere spectators when Human Rights Day is celebrated in their own country,” he said, adding that human rights ought to be inclusive to accommodate all groups.
“If that is not the case, as in South Africa, it is just an empty, false gesture. The right to mother-tongue education in South Africa is not only being violated, but there is also a severe onslaught on Afrikaans and Afrikaans schools; so much so that Afrikaans speakers have had to approach the courts many times in an effort to protect themselves against these attacks.”
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi previously reiterated the need for equality at schools and abolishing Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. He said in a tweet in May 2016 that there are no Afrikaans schools, but South African schools.
“These schools belong to all of us, not Afrikaans,” Lesufi wrote at the time.
In another tweet in December 2018, Lesufi responded to a question he was tagged on by affirming that the enrolment of black students at Afrikaans schools is solely to eliminate the apartheid mentality.
“So that we can break apartheid mentality that wants to promote separate development. We don’t have Afrikaans nor English schools in SA, we have South African Schools.
“Afrikaans is part of 11 equal languages in our country and I treat all languages equally. For the record, my child went to an Afrikaans public school and these schools belong to all of us,” he reiterated in another tweet in April 2019. He had previously also stated that Afrikaans only Universities was a disgrace.
Groenewald also accused affirmative action of predominantly discriminating against the youth of what he referred to as “minority groups, white and coloured”, further stating that these youths are denied equal opportunities such as access to bursaries.
“Affirmative action and black economic empowerment amount to a direct violation of minorities’ rights as it denies certain people equal opportunities, like getting a job or being considered for government tenders,” said Groenewald.
This, according to Groenewald, deepens the scourge of inequalities. The party also called on South African citizens to reach out to one another.
“The ANC is being hypocritical by celebrating Human Rights Day while it serves as a reminder for minorities in South Africa that their rights are being violated.”
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