A holiday resort in Limpopo has been accused of enforcing apartheid-style rules for visitors and holding Afrikaans culture as supreme over other cultures.
Mapula Sehlako said she visited the Klein Kariba Lodge in Polokwane a day before Good Friday with her partner and two children. She was expecting a restful time at the lodge but she said she noticed that there were some odd things about the lodge such as the language on the notice boards.
“Everything was in Afrikaans even when I was booking they were responding in Afrikaans I had to ask them to communicate in English,” she said.
The language problem became worse when she was told that activities in the resort such as those at the swimming area would be done in Afrikaans because the majority of people in the resort spoke Afrikaans.
According to Sehlako, all the white people that were in the pool earlier on that day stepped out when her black partner and child stepped inside the pool. They went back in after Sehlako’s partner went out.
“The entertainer started praying in Afrikaans, and when he finished praying he started the Easter pool party entertainment in Afrikaans, our family felt belittled and discriminated, I then went to the guy wanting to let him know that we felt excluded from the activities because we could not understand the language.
“He avoided me and spoke in Afrikaans that he was busy and I was disturbing him. When he finished with that particular programme he spoke in Afrikaans that it is not their problem that we cannot hear the language and there was nothing they could do about it, when he said that the people in the pool screamed and agreed with him speaking in Afrikaans and asking us ‘wat soek hulle hier” my partner and I felt humiliated and helpless,” Sehlako said.
Sehlako said after complaining to the manager of the resort, she was then told that the resort was compelled to uphold the Afrikaans culture and language because it was an “Afrikaans” preserving resort.
“I asked the manager why they did not state it in their website that they are Afrikaans-preserving resort, I would never have booked with them because I would have known that there will be a language bearer for our family. I then requested for my refund, however, we were refused our money back.”
Klein Kariba is one of the resorts that falls under a nonprofit organization which is called ATKV (Afrikaans Taal & Kultuur Vereeniging ) which preserves the Afrikaans language and tradition.
“They should have stated in their website that No Black people are allowed instead of humiliating us, it is clear that the language and the culture should never be compromised every information desk is written in Afrikaans.” Sehlako said.
Sehlako said after failing to get her refund from the resort she then decided to drive back to Johannesburg on Good Friday.
“It was a humiliating drive,” she said.
‘The Star’ has seen complaints from other visitors to the resort on issues of exclusion and apartheid like rules.
The resort told ‘The Star’ that they were investigating the matter. “Thank you for the email. Will forward the email to the resort manager.”
The Star