Tito Mboweni Says Afrikaans Should Continue Being Used At the University of Pretoria

Just a few days ago, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Pretoria made it known that the university was phasing out Afrikaans as a means of instruction and communication. However, the finance minister of South Africa, Tito Mboweni, controversially said that he was against the idea of Afrikaans being scrapped from the university.

In a tweet, Tito Mboweni said: "I publicly, and in my personal capacity, DISAGREE, with the phasing out of Afrikaans as one of the mediums of teaching at the University of Pretoria. As a country, you are shooting yourselves down. You will regret it in 30 years’ time."

Many institutions in South Africa including the University of Pretoria had come under fire for teaching classes in Afrikaans, and as a result this was prejudicial to non-Afrikaans speaking people.

The comments by Tito Mboweni have added fuel to the Afrikaans debate in South Africa, with many black South Africans reaching the conclusion that the minister went off-side with this one.

A Twitter user replied to Mboweni's tweet saying: "Perhaps it's better to have English as the primary language of teaching. I don't use Afrikaans in the work I specialise in. I don't see how Afrikaans will help me attract international business. By all means keep the language alive but I would not recommend it for tertiary ed..."

In removing Afrikaans lectures from the university and also the issue of communicating in Afrikaans, Prof Tawana Kupe, the Pretoria University Vice-Chancellor and principal said: "Lectures will be in English, the administration and the e-mails will also be in English. People can speak to each other in the language of their choice.

"The minute we use two languages people think it is still an Afrikaans university. But it is now just a South African university."

What are your thoughts into this?