After civil rights organisation AfriForum stepped in to assist a psychology student with legal action against the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) last week, the Council did an about-turn and granted his application to register as an intern psychologist.
Former University of Pretoria student Genus Du Toit, whose honours degree certificate was in Afrikaans, had his application rejected when he attempted to register with HPCSA as an intern psychologist to pursue his masterʼs degree in psychology, reports Politicsweb.
According to Afriforum, an HPCSA representative had emailed the student to tell him the registration process could not proceed, as the certificate was in Afrikaans. His appeal that his academic records, which he also submitted, were available in English, was ignored, said the civil rights organisation
Afriforum said the Councilʼs list of required documentation “makes no mention of the language preference”, and it was “extremely discriminatory to refuse a degree certificate that is in one of the countryʼs official languages and to expect a student to incur additional expenses to have it professionally translated”. An urgent letter by his legal representative of Hurter Spies Incorporated to the HPCSA "yielded no results" and a semi-urgent court application against the Council was submitted last week.
However, late on Thursday, the Council approved the application. In a statement to MedicalBrief, it said:
“The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) does not discriminate against students on the basis of language, race, age, sex or disability. The HPCSA Acting Registrar/CEO, Ms Melissa De Graaff has intervened, and Mr du Toit ‘s application for registration has been approved.”
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