Introduction

International human rights law affords linguistic minorities the right to education in the language of their choice. It is an important right, both because home language education is generally more effective, and because educational institutions are vital for maintaining minority communities. South Africa too guarantees a (limited) right to education in the language of one's choice. But for one particular minority community, the Afrikaners, the protection of that right is complicated by South Africa's history of racial inequality, particularly in the area of education. As Moseneke DCJ has put it:

As a result of this history of inequality, Black learners today receive, on average, a substantially lower quality of education than their White counterparts. This manifests in the nature of the infrastructure, the learner-to-teacher ratios and the quality of teachers. White children go to schools with excellent facilities and low numbers of students to well-trained teachers. Black children experience the opposite.

In this chapter, I explore how the unique South African context affects the way that we evaluate the right to own-language education of the White Afrikaans minority. I argue that it is not possible to apply the ordinary principles concerning minority languages to Afrikaans. But that does not mean that Afrikaners are not entitled to some protection for their language. Rather, it requires looking for compromises and innovative solutions that acknowledge both the position of privilege built on a history of racial discrimination, and the legitimate demand for protecting Afrikaans-language education.

The argument is structured in three parts. The next section expands on the nature of the problem and how it has manifested in some recent events. The following one looks at the Constitution and how it attempts to mediate between the competing demands.