Unisa has told the Constitutional Court of the range of impracticalities it would face if compelled to reinstate Afrikaans as a language of teaching and learning alongside English, according to a report in The Star.

Matthew Chaskalson SC, representing the university, urged the apex court to ‘have regard to practical reality’.

The court was hearing Unisa’s bid to appeal a ruling that declared its new language policy unconstitutional and unlawful.

The university lost to AfriForum at the SCA last year, prompting its appeal at the Constitutional Court.

Based on Unisa's language policy adopted in 2016, all students now receive tutorial material in English and have to write assignments and exams in the language.

AfriForum wants the policy reversed.

Chaskalson told the Constitutional Court that upholding the SCA ruling would bring about a range of problems for Unisa.

‘We sit today in a situation where we’re now five years down the line since Afrikaans was offered at Unisa. In those five years, Unisa has been administering its affairs, dealing with staffing issues, dealing with curriculum issues, dealing with resources issues without having to provide for Afrikaans language instruction. To turn the clock back to 2016 overnight, which is what the SCA judgment obliged, is simply not practical at all,’ he added.

‘Unisa needs to look at the resources. It’s going to have to hire people. It’s going to have to produce new materials,’ said Chaskalson. ‘Anyone who’s taught in a university knows that the materials that we use today are completely different to the materials used five years ago.’

Unisa removed Afrikaans to bring about equality among its students, the apex court heard, according to The Star report.

‘In this case, AfriForum invokes section 29(2) of the Constitution in an attempt to preserve historical privilege bequeathed by apartheid. AfriForum wants Unisa to subsidise Afrikaans home language learners at the expense of all other learners,’  Chaskalson said.

Alfred Cockrell SC, for AfriForum, told the Bench Unisa’s submissions on the implications of returning Afrikaans were flawed by lack of costing.

He drew the justices’ attention to Stellenbosch University’s (SU) costing exercise in a similar case. SU demonstrated to the Constitutional Court in 2019 that maintaining Afrikaans as a medium of instruction alongside English would cost it R78m a year.

Said Cockrell: ‘They worked out to the last rand how much it would cost them to continue their existing policy and they put those facts to the court. With respect, that is not something that Unisa has done. You will hunt through this record in vain to find any reference to what the costs are of continuing the old language policy.’

The report notes judgment was reserved.

Full report in The Star (subscription needed)