Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has lambasted Solidarity’s plans to open an Afrikaans-only university.<\/p>\n
In an opinion piece for IOL<\/a><\/strong>, Lesufi claimed that the Afrikaans language was being ‘hijacked’ by the trade union to ‘conceal a hatred of a democratic South Africa’.<\/p>\n “It is a pity that even under a democratic state, we are still being insulted and the overwhelming majority of our people, still live in squalor, not out of their own making but because of the historic injustices of apartheid education,” he said.<\/p>\n “It is those living in informal settlements and rural areas without skills that need this university. But they will be excluded because they do not speak Afrikaans.”<\/p>\n Lesufi added that he fully supported multilingualism where all languages are protected and developed.<\/p>\n “The opening of this language-based university, especially a language that was used to oppress us, is not good for the future of our country.”<\/p>\n Alternative school system<\/strong><\/p>\n A new university is just one of a number of projects which Solidarity is currently working on as part of a plan to create an ‘alternative school system’.<\/p>\n