ANC stalwart says it is unacceptable to build an Afrikaans university

ANC stalwart and former Minister Naledi Pandor said that it was unacceptable to build an Afrikaans-medium university funded by the community.

Pandor shared her views on the new Akademia University in Pretoria during an interview with the African Renaissance Podcast.

Pandor is a prominent South African ANC politician who served as South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation from 2019 to 2024.

She has held high-ranking cabinet portfolios over a 30-year parliamentary career, including Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Training.

She also serves as the Chancellor of Nelson Mandela University and is the chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Pandor is therefore an influential voice in the South African education sector and in the African National Congress (ANC).

In the interview, she said that the fact that a university intended to be Afrikaans-medium is being built and receiving billions of rands is concerning.

“The only person speaking out is Jonathan Jansen. The rest of us remain quiet. We are far too complacent with our freedom,” she said.

“It is a massive challenge because we are battling centuries of racism and colonialism, and those who have held control do not let go easily.”

“Instead, they find alternative ways. They recruit entrepreneurs to act as their tools and work against you.”

She explained that, in many cases, while they believe those individuals are working toward their goals, they are actually working against them.

“We are not just in a democratic South Africa. We are in a process of building a fundamentally different, endurable, progressive democracy,” she said.

“If we understand that, then AfriForum won’t have currency. But because we have no answer, we’re too casual.”

“We just take things for granted. I am afraid sometimes of the lackadaisical response that we have to conservative liberalism.”

Akademia University in Pretoria

Pandor’s attack targets Solidarity’s new Akademia Campus, a development in Pretoria announced on 1 August 2024.

The project, developed through a partnership between Solidarity and Kanton, is located eight kilometres from Solomon Mahlangu Drive, on the Boschkop Road.

This campus will cater for 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,500 postgraduate students.

Four men’s and four women’s residences on the new Akademia campus will accommodate 1,500 students on campus.

The development includes office blocks, lecture halls, laboratories, an auditorium, dedicated research halls, a cafeteria, restaurants, and coffee shops.

There will also be a student centre, library, residences, staff accommodation and world-class sports facilities.

An experimental farm is also planned for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Agriculture on the new site.

“Phase one of the project will amount to approximately R1.8 billion and will be completed on 1 January 2028,” said Kanton MD Henk Schalekamp.

“The second phase involves the completion of the academic campus and residences, followed by the sports facilities, chapel and auditorium.”

The total development cost will exceed R3 billion. Akademia received no government funding or assistance for the new university campus.

In August 2025, a year after the project was announced, Kanton broke ground on the new Akademia campus. It has made good progress since then.

Schalekamp said that the funding for the new R3.2 billion Akademia campus is built on a partnership between culture and capital.

Academia is a non-profit entity and does not receive any government subsidies. This means it had to find another way to build its new campus.

Phase one of the project required R1.8 billion in funding, which was raised through equity investors, bank financing, and Kanton itself.

Kanton reinvested income from its existing property portfolio, including Solidarity’s Sol-Tech campus.

The new campus is therefore ultimately funded by Akademia students’ tuition and accommodation fees.

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Akademia University in Pretoria construction

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