Blade Nzimande Snaps Back at DA after They Called Him Out for Allegedly Hating Afrikaans

• The Democratic Alliance has called Blade Nzimande out for allegedly stating that Afrikaans is a foreign language
• Nzimande has since denied the allegations put forward by the opposition party but they have already lodged a complaint with the SAHRC
• DA MP Leon Schreiber stated that Nzimande's comments about the language was 'unconstitutional'

The official opposition party has slated Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande for his alleged hatred of Afrikaans but he has hit back and denied the allegations.

On Monday Leon Schreiber, a member of the national assembly for the Democratic Alliance, lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) against Nzimande for labelling Afrikaans as a foreign language which Schreiber described as unconstitutional.

Schreiber detailed in his complaint that Nzimande was infringing on the rights of Afrikaans speakers who had a right to be taught in their mother tongue and he wanted the commission to compel Nzimande to include Afrikaans in the policy frameworks definition of indigenous languages.

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Nzimande said he does know that Afrikaans is one of South Africa's 11 official languages. He did, however, state that the opposition party seems to have a fixation on the language and that they showed no attempts to uplift any of the other nine official languages, according to EWN.

A report by IOL revealed that a Constitutional Court victory on the part of AfriForum last week allowed for the language to be kept as a teaching and instruction dialect at the University of South Africa. This will be done from the 2023 academic year.

Mboweni calls on white Saffas to learn African language, sparks heated debate

Previously, Briefly News reported that former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has caused some controversy online after suggesting that all white South Africans need to learn an African language. His lengthy remarks stirred up reactions from all the people of our beautiful rainbow nation.

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Heading online, @tito_mboweni had this to say:

"As part of the REAL non-racial reconciliation process, NOT an event, white South Africans should try to learn to speak at least one African language. African people speak English, Afrikaans, etc. Come on people!! Language and culture are a fundamental starting point."

Mzansi quickly headed to the comments section, sharing mixed reactions. It seems Mboweni's remarks may have triggered an uncomfortable nerve with many South Africans, causing them to come up in defence mode.

Others unquestionably agreed with the Minister and encouraged all Saffas to learn an African language, especially since so many fluent speakers live right here in Mzansi.

Source: Briefly News