High Court judgement vindicates Minister Mthethwa’s decision to dissolve PANSALB board
The South African High Court has ruled in favour of Arts and Culture Minister, Mr. Nathi Mthethwa for dissolving the board of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) on 12 January 2016.
Minister Mthethwa dissolved the board for a number of reason, including that there was no common understanding between the department and the board as to what the strategic role of the board should be.
Following a two year litigation process where the previous board applied to court for a review of the Minister’s decision to dissolve the board, the high court found that there were reasonable grounds to uphold the decision to dismiss the previous board.
The lead applicant was further instructed to pay all costs to the Department of Arts and Culture as the court was not convinced that the remainder of the applicants were part of the application.
“The judgement means that the department can now proceed with the process of reconstituting the board. The development of our languages and the promotion of multilingualism in South Africa needs to be accelerated and we want to constitute a board that will understand and appreciate its mandate so that it can begin to produce tangible results’, said Minister Nathi Mthethwa
For more information, contact:
Zimasa Velaphi
Cell: 072 172 8925
E-mail: ZimasaV@dac.gov.za
Lokile Molefe
Cell: 076 920 3934
E-mail: LokileM@dac.gov.za
