Is the Afrikaans Language and Culture Association (ATKV) just a Language and Culture Association (TKV) is the response of Dr. Pieter Mulder of FF Plus on announcements of the new CEO of the organization, Ms. Deidre Le Hanie.
She announced that the ATKV wants to achieve a broader community than just the Afrikaans community by including other languages. “There is nothing wrong with reaching out to other language groups in South Africa, but it can change the primary business of the ATKV. For 87 years, the ATKV was a cultural site for Afrikaans,” said Dr. Mulder.
For many years, the government and the state have protected and supported the Afrikaans language and cultural life. Therefore, it was not necessary for Afrikaans civil society organizations to spend unnecessary time and money on these features. Since 1994 this is no longer the case. Members of the Afrikaans community have voluntarily supported organizations in a financial and otherwise way to fill this vacancy for them.
Dr. Mulder points out that there is currently ongoing government pressure against Afrikaans. “African cultural and civil organizations also experience a calculated financial downturn by the government of everything that is linked with Afrikaans. The Department of Arts and Culture’s budget and projects show how all other groups are supported but how the Afrikaans language community is neglected. The Afrikaans language community will, therefore, be poorer with the loss of the ATKV, or any similar organization at this time.”
“History has shown that if an organization tries to be everything for everyone, it often falls into the middle and ends by being nothing to anyone. As an ATKV member for decades, together with thousands of other Afrikaans ATKV members, I will be following the practical implementation of the proposed projects before a final conclusion on the ‘new’ ATKV and the new CEO will be made possible,” said Dr. Mulder.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
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