Mbeki's Afrikaans stance hailed

2005-06-30 19:45

Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki's stance on Afrikaans and Afrikaners - in his speech to the African National Congress's national general council on Thursday - was welcomed by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+).

The FF+ welcomed the president's stance and said Afrikaans speakers had never asked for special treatment, said party leader Pieter Mulder.

Mbeki had cited fears about the "diminution" of Afrikaans as an issue that the ruling African National Congress should address in leading the country's social transformation.

He was speaking at the ANC's national general council meeting at the University of Pretoria.

Mulder said as long as ANC provincial governments took "real" Afrikaans schools such Mikro in the Western Cape to court, there remained pressure and discrimination against the language and its speakers.

He said his party also welcomed Mbeki's reference to the Freedom Charter regarding the equal treatment of different languages and cultures.

Mbeki was leading by example in making sure that part of the charter was not ignored, said Mulder.

- SAPA