Afriforum helps student with registration at HPCSA

AfriForum said it has won an “important victory” after helping a student continue his studies after he was rejected by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) for submitting a registration application containing a qualification in Afrikaans.

In a statement, the organisation said it assisted student Du Toit Genis with his registration as an intern psychologist at the HPCSA.

AfriForum said after helping Genis with legal action against the HPCSA, the council “has now accepted Genis’ qualification”.

“He has now eventually been registered,” their statement read.

Genis is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Psychology and he had to be registered with the HPCSA to complete his studies.

As part of the requirements, he had to submit a copy of his qualification to confirm that he completed his honours degree in 2018 at the University of Pretoria.

Instead, he was informed by a representative from the HPCSA by e-mail that they could not proceed with Genis’ registration because it was in Afrikaans.

He repeatedly approached the HPCSA to reconsider his registration application – to no avail. His appeal that his academic records, which he also submitted, were available in English, fell on deaf ears.

That was when he approached AfriForum for help.

Hurter Spies Incorporated, AfriForum’s legal representatives, applied to the court for the necessary assistance in the matter on a semi-urgent basis.

According to AfriForum, the matter was withdrawn after the HPCSA confirmed in writing that Genis’s registration “has now been finalised”.

Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s head of culture, said it was unacceptable that a student’s future had been put in jeopardy because an organisation refuses to acknowledge one of the country’s official languages.

“It is also extremely discriminatory to refuse a qualification that is in one of the country’s official languages and to expect a student to incur additional expenses to have it professionally translated.”

She said AfriForum was relieved that the matter has now been resolved.

It was, however, “concerned about the climate that transpired in which an official feels safe enough to make such an illegal decision”.

“This decision affects every student who has already obtained or is about to obtain, a qualification at an Afrikaans-language institution.

Therefore, strong action must be taken against this bureaucratic contempt and discrimination to which Mr Genis was being subjected to.”

Willie Spies, of Hurter Spies Incorporated, said that “these events once again prove that language communities need civil rights watchdogs to intercede continuously for their language rights”.

In this regard, the firm said, AfriForum plays a vital role to ensure the maintenance of a healthy social order.

The HPCSA was yet to comment at the time of going to press.

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