The Irish national airline Ryanair continues to insist that all South Africans flying to the UK must prove their citizenship by an African language test.
Politics has sparked protests in South Africa, where many blacks associate Africans with the era of white minority governments. South Africa has 11 official languages, but Ryanair did not explain why it chose Africans.
The airline flies all over Europe. “The number of counterfeit South African passports used to enter the UK has increased significantly and therefore had to be subject to further scrutiny,” Ryanair said in a statement to the BBC. Airlines bringing passports to the UK with counterfeit passports will be fined £ 2,000 ($ 2,500) by British authorities.
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“Therefore, Ryanair needs to ensure that all passengers (especially South Africans) can travel with a valid SA passport / visa, in accordance with UK immigration requirements,” the airline said. The UK government has said no further tests are needed.
Ryanair did not explain why it chose African languages over other South African languages, nor did it say that it passed similar tests. About 13%of South Africa is the first language of Africa and, according to a 2011 census, is the largest language of this country, Irazhosa.
The test includes questions such as the International Code of South Africa, the capital of the capital and the president of the country. Those who are not accepted will be denied the trip and the ticket price will be refunded.
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Dinesh Joseph, a South African, told the a news agency how upset he was when he was asked to take an exam while flying from the Canary Islands to the UK. Joseph told the a news agency it was provocative.
“As a person of color, especially from South Africa, you have a lot of experience … “It’s racist,” he said. The introduction of African languages in schools was a major cause of the 1976 Soweto revolt against apartheid.
Nomsa Maseko of the a news channel in South Africa said after graduating from school that she had sworn not to speak Afrikaans and failed the exam. South Africa has 11 official languages: Zoele, Hosa, Afrikaans, Sepedi, Setswana, English, Sesoto, Tshivenda, Swati, Tshivenda and Ndebele.