Litnet

"The youth are actively participating. Expect them to indicate the pace at which we move forward."

"Afrikaans should be seen and accepted by non-Afrikaans students as a language spoken by the majority of people in the Western Cape. There are more Afrikaans-medium schools in the Western Cape than in the rest of the country combined. Surely this is a fact that cannot simply be ignored. Those students, the majority of whom are coloured/black Afrikaans mother-tongue speakers, have a right to be taught in the language of their choice – Afrikaans. The abandonment of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at universities will have an effect on the entire Afrikaans community in South Africa."

"Once again, I find myself perplexed by your intentions, OS. You need to jump off this taaldebat train, because it’s clear your demands for transformation go so much further than language – and rightly so."

" ...the only way forward for Afrikaans is for its proponents to stop privileging it above other indigenous South African languages and actively and practically support the development of all South African languages."

"The apartheid legacy does still haunt the nation, and seems set to continue doing so for a while."

More than 650 individuals in the arts, culture and heritage sector endorsed the Unite Against Corruption campaign in less than a week.

Mbulungeni Madiba of UCT in conversation with Gerda Odendaal and Marius Swart, Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, Stellenbosch University. The discussion centred on a chapter in Neville Alexander's book Thoughts on the New South Africa, problematising  the issue of language in the modern South African university. 

"So Chumani Maxwele is correct: we South Africans who are not  first-language speakers of African languages need to lose our arrogance, our  feelings of superiority and our fear of making fools of ourselves, and learn  what it is like to flounder in a language that is not our own, but still make  sense."

"And for all that the Franschhoek Literary Festival is irredeemably disengaged from the lived reality of much of South Africa ..."

What is the role of the media in the time of xenophobia?

After André Brink had received an honorary doctorate and delivered a speech at UCL he made one final public appearance. On Thursday, 5 February he was interviewed by Ludo Teeuwen at Bozar in Belgium. This interview (including photos) was the last time he appeared in front of an audience in his life.

After André Brink had received an honorary doctorate and delivered a speech at UCL he made one final public appearance. On Thursday, 5 February he was interviewed by Ludo Teeuwen at Bozar in Belgium. This interview was the last time he appeared in front of an audience in his life. Here are photos of this final interview.