[Johnnyg]

Sky news today states that Ryanair are insisting that South African passport holders take a general knowledge quiz in Afrikaans due to ‘high prevalence in South African passports’

https://news.sky.com/story/ryanair-accused-of-discrimination-for-forcing-afrikaans-test-on-south-africans-12628601

[SenatorGold]

This policy is discriminatory and entirely irrational. Afrikaans is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. Not all South Africans speak Afrikaans. Conversely, it is spoken by people outside of South Africa e.g. Namibia. How it proves you’re the holder of a valid South African passport is hard to see. But it does discriminate against those South Africans who don’t speak Afrikaans. Quite possibly it’s unlawful under the Equality Act.

5 users thanked author for this post.

cwoodward, Johnnyg, Frederic, GordyUK, FormerBA

[Cedric_Statherby]

Corporate decisions like this do make one wonder whether companies have anyone with any common sense in their legal, compliance or PR departments. Afrikaans is more than “one of the 11 languages of South Africa”; it is redolent of the Apartheid era and many South Africans – of all races – actively avoid it if they can. And it is frankly ridiculous to create a general knowledge test like this and not allow people to choose the language they answer it in.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Johnnyg, Jacob, PeterCoultas

[LuganoPirate]

Afrikaans is still mainly used by the colored community, many of whom grew up with it and many are not even able to speak English. It is also used by many old diehard farmers many of whom also do not speak English. Perversely, these are the people who are least likely to travel internationally!

Quite disgusting by Ryanair who I know employ at least 3 South African pilots, none of whom can speak Afrikaans!!

2 users thanked author for this post.

Jacob, cwoodward

[cwoodward]

Interessant dankie.

[Johnnyg]

UPDATE

(CNN) — Ryanair has confirmed that South Africans will no longer have to take an Afrikaans test to prove their nationality before boarding flights to the UK.
The low-cost airline is abandoning the controversial requirement after receiving a huge backlash from South Africans, with some accusing Ryanair of racial discrimination.
The apparent U-turn was announced by Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, during a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

“We didn’t think it was appropriate either,” he told reporters when questioned about the test, which was apparently introduced due to a surge in counterfeit South African passports. “So we have ended the Afrikaans test, because it doesn’t make any sense.”
O’Leary went on to state that, “South Africa needs to fix its problems.”
A spokesperson for Ryanair has since confirmed to CNN that O’Leary’s comments regarding the removal of the test are accurate.

[Author]

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