African news. Ryanair Afrikaans test. South Africans have rallied against Irish Airline Ryanair for making them take a test in the Afrikaans language while on UK flights deeming it discriminatory.
Failure to pass the test means one can not board planes flying to Great Britain.
While South Africa has 11 official languages, many say they cannot understand Afrikaans which is a language which was imposed during a time when there was white-minority rule.
The quiz contained questions on south African general knowledge.
BBC reported that Ryanair defended the test, saying it weeds out those travelling on fraudulent South African passports.
“Due to the high prevalence of fraudulent South African passports, we require passengers travelling to the UK to fill out a simple questionnaire issued in Afrikaans,” it said in a statement. “If they are unable to complete this questionnaire, they will be refused travel and issued with a full refund,” the airline continued.
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Passengers who had their passports and boarding passes taken away and handed the exam complained and stated that the language was triggering given it was spoken during the time of apartheid.
Many felt oppressed, angered and anxious about the Ryanair Afrikaans test.
Only around 13% of South Africans speak Afrikaans as a first language, according to a 2011 census – making it the country’s third-most spoken mother tongue, after Zulu and Xhosa.