ANC vandalising Afrikaans, says IFP
2012-07-16 22:32
Cape Town - Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Koos van der Merwe has accused the ANC government of vandalising Afrikaans.
"The ANC is continuing its cultural vandalism of Afrikaans," he said in a statement on Monday.
"The latest blatant example is government placing six full pages of advertising for vacant positions in Rapport [newspaper] of Sunday 15 July 2012 - all only in English."
Van der Merwe said he had urgently placed questions on Parliament's order paper asking why English had been used in an Afrikaans newspaper.
The questions were put to the ministers of local government, arts and culture, social development, transport, tourism, and public enterprises.
He wanted to know, among other things, whether the adverts in only English "are aimed at eliminating prospective Afrikaans applicants".
"It is becoming clearer by the day that the ANC is vandalising Afrikaans and Afrikaner culture," Van der Merwe said.
"It is not only happening to our language, but also to Afrikaans schools, [which are] being turned into English schools."
Correspondence by state departments was being conducted almost exclusively in English.
Hardly 1% of court reports were now in Afrikaans, while this used to be almost 50% he said.
The ANC was not immediately available for comment.
- SAPA
