Top court confirms Free State University’s English-only language policy
The University of the Free State’s sole language of instruction is officially English, after the Constitutional Court refused Afriforum leave to appeal. The court found that the language policy, with English as sole language of instruction, was lawful and valid. Afriforum and Solidarity had appealed to the Constitutional Court, after the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the judgment of the Bloemfontein High Court, which reviewed and set aside the language policy adopted by the university senate in 2016. The court held that Afriforum had standing to bring the matter, but that Solidarity did not. Chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng read out the judgment on the highly contentious issue of the use of Afrikaans at the university. Afrikaans and English were used for some time as equal languages of instruction at the university, which was initially an Afrikaans-only institution. The new language policy adopted by the university is monolingual, making English the only medium of instruction, tho...
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