Opposition to take action over campus language issue IOL 13 March 2021 South Africa’s University of Stellenbosch has encouraged students to follow the official complaints procedure after allegations in the media that some of them were allegedly denied the right to communicate with each other in Afrikaans – even in the privacy of their own residences, reports IOL. Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said in a statement: “It is not university policy that only English be used in residences, that videos that also contain Afrikaans may not be shown or that students are barred from speaking Afrikaans.” According to the Democratic Alliance’s Leon Schreiber, students who had complained said the alleged ban only applies to Afrikaans and not to other indigenous languages, and “Afrikaans students are therefore forced to speak only English with their fellow students or visitors, even in situations where everyone is Afrikaans-speaking”. Schreiber added that, according to one student, some residences even refuse to show videos in which people speak Afrikaans. Other complainants said students are also prohibited from speaking Afrikaans in the gardens of the residences where they live.