29 May 1997
The former South Africa Minister of Education, Dr. Sibusiso Bengu warned the University of Stellenbosch that it could not continue to be an exclusively Afrikaans-speaking University within a new democratic South Africa. This followed the University's refusal to comply with the new regulations for integrated higher education, which included an inclusive medium of instruction. Since its establishment in 1866, Stellenbosch University had maintained a white Afrikaner student body through the use of the Afrikaans language as the medium of instruction. Although, some English speaking White South Africans attended, they were sufficiently bilingual to cope with being taught in Afrikaans. This situation emerged out of the National Party government's policy of separate segregated education. Higher Education was thus implemented inequitably through separate administrative divisions to serve different race groups. Education institutions were exclusive to particular race groups. The White Institutions were further divided into those which, used as their main medium of communication and instruction, either Afrikaans (which was the home language of most people in government) or English. Language exclusivity helped to prevent institutions designated for the use of one race group from enrolling or allowing students of other races to mix with theirs.
References

Stellenbosch University, 'Historical Background', [online], Available at: https://sun.ac.za [Accessed on 28 may 2013]|SAHO, 'Sibusiso Bengu', [online], Available at: www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed on 28 May 2013]