“Die verwesenliking van ’n Afrikanerdroom”: Die stigting van die Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit, 1955-1968

Abstract

This article focuses on several factors that contributed to the establishment of the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU). It is argued that the RAU was not primarily founded as a result of the increase in the number of Afrikaners on the Rand, much less to serve as a countermeasure against the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). The Afrikaner’s quest for an Afrikaans Christian National tertiary institution resulted in the establishment of the RAU, although it was not the main motivation for its development. Research, as discussed in this article, shows that the RAU primarily was established for the Afrikaner to enable themselves to become powerful role-players in the industrial heartland of South Africa. This article also points out that with the establishment of the RAU various obstacles had to be overcome, of which the National Party (NP) was prominent. RAU’s development, in many ways, represents the realisation of an Afrikaner Dream to sustain an Afrikaans University in the heartland of Johannesburg as economic centre, and to support the empowering of Afrikaners to fill leading roles in the economic and other sectors.