The commitment of an Afrikaans-medium school to the traditions of the ”volk” came under scrutiny in the Cape High Court on Wednesday.
The governing body of Mikro Primary School in Kuilsriver is asking the court to overturn a Western Cape education department ruling that it provide an English-medium class for grade-one pupils who live in the area.
Advocate Norman Arendse, for the department, argued on Wednesday that the governing body has adopted an ”ostrich-like” approach to the changing needs of the new South Africa.
”This is really why this school doesn’t want to admit any English learners,” he told Judge Wilfred Thring.
He said the school’s admission policy is objectionable, unlawful and unconstitutional because it is ultra vires.
He read out a section of the school’s prospectus.
”Through our mother tongue we want to foster not only knowledge, but also love, respect and pride for everything that is volkseie,” it said.
”Volkseie” can be translated as ”peculiar to a particular people”; the word ”volk” has traditionally been used by Afrikaner nationalists to describe themselves as a group.
”That, to me, sounds very much like the language of the old South Africa,” Arendse said.
He said there is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s origins, providing other people are not obliged to [be proud] as well, but in terms of the school’s admission policy, learners are required to identify with and honour the culture, tradition, conventions and ethical values of the school.
He said Mikro, established in 1972, was named after an Afrikaner poet who, he said, was also know as a ”bittereinder” — a term usually used for Afrikaners who fought to the bitter end in the Anglo-Boer War.
”And that is the culture and tradition that is being referred to,” Arendse said.
He also said that far from being ”bully boys” as claimed by the school’s advocate, Jan Heunis, provincial education minister Cameron Dugmore and his officials have shown concern, compassion and respect for the community of Kuilsriver.
The record shows that since 2002 there have been 10 meetings between the provincial minister, his officials, the governing body and the community on this issue.
The governing body, on the other hand, is continuing to show an ”unreasonable and inflexible attitude”. — Sapa