The Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Paul Mashatile, has acted swiftly in addressing the governance challenges facing the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB).
Speaking at the Portfolio Committee of Arts and Culture, the Director-General of the Department of Arts and Culture, Mr Sibusiso Xaba, announced that Minister Mashatile shares the concern of the Committee about the state of affairs at PANSALB and had decided to appoint a governance expert to work with the Pan South African Language Board and the department in strengthening the governance of this important institution.
"We met the board of PANSALB to address some of their issues. At this meeting, it was agreed to bring in expertise to take a deep look and assessment of the governance matters facing PANSALB."
“Therefore the department is appointing a governance expert to advise the department and PANSALB on governance issues,” said Mr Xaba.
PANSALB has recently fired their Chief Executive Officer who is appealing dismissal. Only last week the Chair of the Board resigned and on Monday the Board elected a new chair. The Board is also facing severe financial constraints.
The PANSALB is tasked with promoting multilingualism in South Africa. The Constitution mandates the Pan-South African Language Board to “promote the use of all official languages, the Khoi, Nama and San languages, and sign language. It must promote and respect other languages used in South Africa such as Arabic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telegu, Urdu and other languages used for religious purposes.”
Enquiries:
Lisa Combrinck
Cell: 082 821 4886
Premi Appalraju
Cell: 082 903 6778
Minister Mashatile acts swiftly to address governance challenges of the Pan South African Language Board
