Indigenous languages not enjoying parity at state departments

The usage of indigenous languages, especially in government departments, is still not equitable after 27 years since SA declared them as official languages.

This was revealed by an investigation conducted by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) on marginalised languages and the need to elevate them. It tabled its report yesterday at its offices in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. 

The findings show that even though government departments have adopted two or three official languages as per Language Act, English was still predominantly used at the expense of other languages. The investigation further found that the obstacles for all official languages to enjoy parity of esteem were caused by lack of budget and lack of skilled personnel. 

The investigation included 16 organs of state which were randomly picked and invited to share what they are doing regarding the promotion and equitable use of all official languages. Chairperson of the commission, Prof David Luka Mosoma, said the purpose of the investigation was to establish the extent of the equal use and status of the official languages by government departments.  

“Since the constitution affirms that these languages should be given their due and constitutional status, we had to do this investigation to gauge how far we are. We wanted to assess the positive measures that departments are employing to elevate the status and advanced the use of these languages. These hearings had to investigate and ascertain the measures [if any] that are in place to advance the equal treatment of all the South African official languages. 

“The investigation was to assess the current efforts and future plans being followed by departments to regulate, monitor and elevate the use of all the official languages among other things for teaching, research, science, technology, commerce as well as to be languages of record.” 

In its recommendations, CLR Rights Commission stated that all government departments, enterprises and entities should establish functional language service centres. It further called on the department of higher education to identify a pool of teachers who will teach mathematics, science and technology in their mother tongues. 

“We encourage the department of higher education and training to subsidise institutions of higher learning to elevate, prioritise and promote official languages to become languages of record, teaching, research, science and technology.”