Friday, 3 June 2022
ATTENTION: The British High Commissioner to South Africa
Dear Mr Phillipson,
Our citizens travelling to the UK from European destinations must fill in a general knowledge questionnaire in Afrikaans to demonstrate that they are South African. These allegations were confirmed in various social media posts and by numerous news platforms.
This Afrikaans requirement discriminates even against South Africans of British descent as much as South Africans of any of the official indigenous language groups which our organisation represents. Out of 50 million, only 20 million South Africans speak or understand Afrikaans.
What is further hurtful about the UK’s requirement of Afrikaans is that it evokes negative emotions from apartheid where black students were killed by the apartheid government after refusing to be taught in Afrikaans. This brings back the pain of many South Africans who were denied access with Afrikaans being used as the language of domination and division. It is surprising that the UK would be insensitive to this.
This further threatens social cohesion among South Africans and undermines even the work of our country to heal apartheid divisions.
We therefore request the UK government to apologise to South Africans for stirring the wounds of our nation and to correct this error by not using Afrikaans in such a divisive and harmful manner.
Yours sincerely
ILAF’s Steering Committee
