'You will regret it in 30 years time': Tito Mboweni on scrapping Afrikaans at UP

25 January 2019 - 07:29 By Odwa Mjo

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Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni has received backlash for opposing UP's decision to scrap Afrikaans.
Image: ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAYTIMES

Finance minister Tito Mboweni ruffled feathers after tweeting that he disagrees with the removal of Afrikaans as a medium language of instruction at the University of Pretoria.

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. pic.twitter.com/qNe43ErSQz
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) January 24, 2019

As of 2019, English is the medium language of teaching for all first-year classes at the university after AfriForum Youth and Solidarity lost a high court battle in 2016 to challenge the language policy.

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Mboweni’s tweet triggered much debate and responses, as the minister firmly stood by his opinion

The youth uprising in 76 died for this, for Afrikaans not to be medium of instruction. Do you ever imagine what led them to sacrifice their lives for this course?
And you come as a minister, person who “fought “ for this democracy and utter such nonsense. Your ignorance 🤦🏾‍♂️
— Thembalands (@ThembaHillsong) January 25, 2019

Yazi @tito_mboweni when we encouraged you to not hand over your account we thought you’d continue with your “off to dinner” tweets but now you’ve been doing the opposite & trolling us. Not cool malume, not cool.
— Yozana 🌺 (@Zamangwanya) January 24, 2019

The same Afrikaans that kids died for in 1976? We need an enquiry into how institutional racism has affected black students (with Afrikaans as a weapon) and maybe a brief reminder of the significance of June 16 1976, pic.twitter.com/4h2x5Ubjxv
— Woke_Makoti (@WokeMakoti) January 25, 2019

remember when tito mboweni just used to tweet about his dinner
— zak (@zakareeee) January 24, 2019

If Afrikaans is kept as a medium of instruction then Economics and other courses like Accounting should be taught in Zulu, Tsonga, Sotho etc. because Afrikaans is not superior to indigenous languages.

English is a compromise for everyone.
— . (@Bongani_SP) January 24, 2019

Dear Minister @tito_mboweni

At NWU I saw how Afrikaans forced Balck students to sleep in toilets & petrol stations because lecturers were told that if they want to reach in English it had to be at night. So no, I will not regret being part of a movement to do away with it
— Tessa Dooms (@tessie18) January 25, 2019

In 1976 you would have had Tito Mboweni fighting for implementation of Afrikaans in schools, the problem with South Africa is blacks that vote the ANC
— Khutšo ® 🇿🇦 (@khutso) January 25, 2019

Tito Mboweni is always against all the progressive steps we take as a country, he's always negative. https://t.co/CgxEZa6sjU
— Dr. Mogomotsi Xiga (@DrXiga) January 25, 2019

I had to read this tweet more than once because I couldn't believe that I read it right the first time. Such nonsense really. English is a compromise to all of us in SA, it arrived by boat. Afrikaans isn't superior to other indigenous languages.
— uNtulikazi (@VUYOJULY) January 25, 2019