Gelyke Kanse and Others v Chairperson of the Senate of the University of Stellenbosch and Others

The applicants, comprising a voluntary association (Gelyke Kanse) and several Afrikaans-speaking students and stakeholders at Stellenbosch University, challenged the constitutionality of the University’s 2016 Language Policy. The policy replaced the 2014 Language Policy, which had afforded Afrikaans primacy alongside English as languages of instruction. Following campus unrest in 2015, the University adopted the 2016 policy to promote access, inclusivity, and integration by ensuring a full English offering for all courses, while retaining Afrikaans where reasonably practicable. The applicants contended that the new policy diminished Afrikaans tuition and infringed their constitutional right to receive education in their language of choice, seeking to have the 2016 policy set aside and the 2014 policy reinstated.

Leave to appeal was granted, but the appeal was dismissed. No order as to costs was made, and the costs orders of the High Court were set aside and replaced with an order of no costs.

This case is a leading Constitutional Court authority on language rights in higher education. It affirms that the right to receive education in a language of choice under section 29(2) is qualified by reasonable practicability and must be assessed contextually, taking into account equity, access, and the need to redress past discrimination. The judgment confirms that universities may recalibrate language policies to promote inclusivity, even where this results in a reduced role for a historically privileged language such as Afrikaans.