The language question at a historically Afrikaans university: Access and social justice issues

Abstract

the year 2015 saw the most unprecedented student protests since apartheid south Africa. the issues ranged from decolonisation of the curriculum to no paying of fees to challenging the hegemonic position of Afrikaans in historically Afrikaans universities. After the 2015 protests, the question of language in ensuring educational access and validating lived experiences of African language-speaking students remains largely unaddressed. this paper interrogates the intersection between language, epistemic access and social justice. Contention is made that university language policies play a central role in this interconnectedness. It is further argued that because a language policy is not a value-free document, but a text that embodies ideologies that inform its existence, the policy has an impact on how the languages are distributed for educational access and the implication of such distribution on social justice issues. specifically, these issues are discussed with reference to north-West University. the  institution’s language policy is critically examined to show how the language strategies recommended in the language policy  support and/or constrain access to knowledge by all students and the possible effects of the strategies on social justice issues. the article ends with a call for inclusive and transformative approaches to the language policy in order to address the educational needs of all students and therefore ensure social justice for all students.