AfriForum Youth says in a statement it rejects the anti-Afrikaans movement that is currently “suffocating this language at the University Stellenbosch (Maties). It is for this reason that the youth organisation’s Maties branch will host an Afrikaans sokkie (dance party) in the coming weeks in Stellenbosch. This comes after it was made known that students and young people were now banned by the University from dancing in Afrikaans…
“A sokkie is an event where young people can enjoy student life, but even this is now being threatened by the anti-Afrikaans wave that currently washes over the country’s university campuses. Sokkies are being politicised and demonised – all in the name of transformation, inclusivity and leftist political correctness,” says Roderick Leonard, Chairperson of AfriForum Youth’s Maties branch.
According to Henk Maree, Head of AfriForum Youth, there is a clear attack on Afrikaans and on healthy student life at many tertiary institutions across South Africa.
“As youth organisation we will not sit by and watch how Afrikaans is being demonised. It is absurd to go as far as to ban Afrikaans songs at events for young people,” Maree says.
The student community and young people of Stellenbosch are encouraged to follow AfriForum Youth on social media; the information on AfriForum Youth’s upcoming Afrikaans sokkie will be published there.