The Pan South African Language Board embraces the ruling made yesterday by Judge Ben du Plessis to force government to enact a language act within two years.
“Whilst we appreciate the ruling, as PanSALB we find it regrettable that it took a court case of this nature to sensitise government about the need to honour the Constitution and cater for the linguistic needs of all our communities,” said its Acting Chief Executive Officer Chris Swepu.
Although PanSALB was cited as a respondent in the case and never opposed the application brought about by Cornelius Lourens, who was seeking an order compelling government to finalise and promulgate national legislation to regulate and monitor the use of all 11 official languages.
“We have been labelled as a toothless watch dog because our founding act does not bestow enough monitoring mechanisms to deal with transgressors. We have been calling for the enactment of this legislation, as we feel it will give us more authority to perform our monitoring role,” Swepu explained.
It is the belief of PanSALB that government had enough time to finalise and promulgate national legislation to regulate and monitor the use of all 11 official languages, so that the majority of illiterate citizens can be able to access information using their mother tongue.
“It is ironic that more than a decade after the dawn of South Africa’s democracy the majority of citizens are still battling to access information using their mother tongue”, Swepu added.
PanSALB will continue to engage parliament and government to ensure that there are no necessary delays in implementing this judgement and it respect the ruling by the court which seeks to advance its mandate.
Contact:
Sibusiso Nkosi
Tel: 012 341 9638
Cell: 082 855 4436
Issued by: Pan South African Language Board
17 March 2010
