Court upholds UFS language policy appeal

The University of the Free State acted lawfully when it adopted a new language policy in March last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

The court upheld an appeal by the university against a ruling of the Bloemfontein High Court in July last year, which reviewed and set aside the decision to adopt the new policy as unlawful.

Trade union Solidarity and rights group AfriForum had reviewed the language policy in court. The policy replaced Afrikaans and English as parallel mediums of instruction, with English as the primary medium.

The university had approved the dual-language policy in 2003. It sought and obtained a mandate from its council to formulate a new language policy in June 2015.

"UFS was entitled to adopt a new policy because it was no longer reasonably practicable to continue with the 2003 policy, which had the effect of segregating the student community along racial lines," Judge of Appeal Azhar Cachalia said.