SAA steward in Afrikaans spat
2010-04-19 08:35
Aldi Schoeman, Die Burger
Cape Town - The fact that a South African Airways (SAA) air steward reported a passenger to her superior because he spoke Afrikaans to her, was described as "alarming" and "a clear violation of constitutional rights" on Sunday.
Hendrik Lemmer, 47, an estate agent from Stellenbosch and head of Cycling South Africa's Road Cycling Commission, said the air steward "was rude to us from the very beginning" on the flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town on Tuesday night.
The passenger next to Lemmer apparently didn't look at the air steward during the special safety information session for the row of seats at the emergency exit, where they were sitting.
The air steward acted "like a teacher toward a school child" and said he hadn't listened.
Humiliated
Later the air steward was working at their row again, when Lemmer apparently said to her in a joking way: "I see you're finally warming up to row 16."
She walked away and, after a while, the head steward came and said he had humiliated the air steward in front of the other passengers because she couldn't understand him.
Lemmer said he's "not a big activist for Afrikaans" and would have spoken English if she had asked him to do so.
"We have 11 official languages and SAA is a state-funded institution. I expect visible action (by SAA) towards the person, and not just a slap on the wrist," Professor Wannie Carstens, chair of the Afrikaans Language Council, said when asked about the incident.
Christo van der Rheede, director of the Foundation for Empowerment through Afrikaans, said the air steward should have asked the passenger to speak another language.
"It is that person's (the air steward's) right to say 'I don't understand.'" If the passenger is unable to speak another language, the air steward should call another crew member or ask a passenger to translate.
No specific policy
Carstens said: "It's common decency to speak English or another language if you realise the other person doesn't understand you. But nobody can blame me for speaking Afrikaans first."
Sibusiso Nkosi, spokesperson for the Pan-South African Language Council, said "such behaviour is not encouraged, especially when the taxpayer's money is involved".
Fani Zulu, SAA's head of communication, said the incident is being investigated.
"We have no specific policy that says we don't speak Afrikaans. We'll speak a language both parties can understand."