Ryanair forces Afrikaans test on South African passengers

By KELVIN CHAN
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Budget airline Ryanair says it’s forcing South African travelers to the U.K. to do a test in the Afrikaans language to prove their nationality in an apparent effort to weed out those with phony passports. Dublin-based Ryanair, Europe’s biggest airline, mainly operates routes around Europe and doesn’t fly to or from South Africa. It confirmed Monday it’s administering the quiz after reports about the test circulated over the weekend, sparking anger among travelers. Afrikaans is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages and is spoken by about 13% of the country’s population. It’s a Dutch-based language developed by white settlers from the Netherlands and is associated with South Africa’s apartheid regime of white minority rule that ended in 1994.