Programme Directors,
Minister of the National Department of Basic Education, Honourable Ms Angie Motshekga
Premier of the Eastern Cape, Mr Oscar Lubabalo Mabuyane
Representatives of Minister of the National Department of Higher Education, Honourable Dr Blade Nzimande
MEC, Eastern Cape Education, Mr Fundi Gade
MEC, Arts and Culture, Ms Nonceba Kontsiwe
Board members of the PanSALB (Pan South African Language Board)
HODs
Director-General of the Department of Higher Education, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi
Director-General of the of Basic Education, Mr Hubert Mathanzima Mweli
Chief Executive Officer of Pan South African Language Board, Mr Lance Schultz
Traditional leaders present,
Representative of the leadership of the workers’ unions
Members of the Media
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:
I am honoured to be the part of this occasion that celebrates International Mother Language Day, a day on which we recognise and promote the use of our mother languages in all aspects of our lives in general and in the education arena in particular.
This is a day that remind us to embrace our roots, to know who we are and to express our identity with pride, kuba ngaphadle kolwimi kunzima ukuzazi ukuba singobani, kuba noba sizithutha okanye sinqula sisebenzisa lona. Hence an American writer Rita Mae Brown once said; and I quote:
“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” As South Africans we can take this further and state that language is not only a road map but a backbone; it does not simply offer guidance and direction but is the base of our actions.
Programme Director: In keeping with this year's International Mother Language Day theme, “Multilingual Education – A Pillar Of Learning And Intergenerational Learning", we share UNESCO’s primary objective in promoting multilingual education. It is critical for our children’s development that they should receive education in their mother tongue and in the languages of their choice.
Speaking last week in his reply to the Debate on the State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa explained; and I quote:
“Since attaining our freedom 30 years [ago], we have been on what Steve Biko called a quest for true humanity.
For us, true humanity means a South Africa that protects and cares for its most vulnerable, a South Africa that guards its hard-won constitutional freedoms, and a South Africa in which every person is able to realise their full potential.
…the past enables us to better understand the present and it inspires the actions we must take to build the future. The past reminds us of the responsibilities that freedom has placed on our shoulders to forge ahead – as we have done as this administration – to realise for all South Africans the promise of a better life.”
It is in this context taking the lead from the President, that we state that use of mother languages is part of our “quest for a true humanity” as it enables everyone “to realise their full potential” and to fulfil “the promise of a better life.” Using Mother Languages is part of asserting our hard-won freedom and therefore should not be seen simply in isolation.
Furthermore, this freedom we continue to assert is part of the gains we have made as a people and a country in 30 years of democracy in South Africa. The right to speak and receive services and information in the languages of choice is fundamental to deepening our democracy.
Section 6 of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South proudly proclaimed 11 languages as official languages. More recently in May 2023 in our efforts to promote the rights and of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing, the National Assembly approved that Section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 be amended to include South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language. This is a victory for Mother Language speakers in South Africa as South African Sign Language (SASL) is a mother language for deaf communities.
In the last thirty years, we have been party to the establishment of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), through the PanSALB Act of 1995 (as amended in 1999), the establishment of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Commission), the Use of Official Languages Act No. 12 of 2012, and the South African Languages Practitioners’ Council Act No. 8 of 2014.
The South African Language Practitioners’ Council, that is tasked to regulate the training of language practitioners and to accredit and register language practitioners, is the one that has most recently been established, with Minister Zizi Kodwa appointing the new board in July last year. The Council has begun its preliminary work and strategic positioning and will embark upon consultations later in the year. It has also been assisted by PanSALB in carrying out its mandate.
As the Department we are also studying the various pieces of legislation with a view to amending them in light of the officialization of South African Sign Language.
This year’s celebration of International Mother Language Day coincides with the celebration of African Languages Week from 21 to 28 February 2024 which was launched by the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN), in Burkina Faso in 2021, with the main objective of ensuring that all member states of the African Union celebrate this Week to highlight the importance of the use of African Languages.
The theme for 2024 is “Empowering African Languages for Education and Free Trade for the Africa We Want”.
As a way of observing the African Languages Week, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is working with stakeholders to organise a webinar that will be held on the 27 of February 2024. The webinar will consist of four eminent speakers who will address the matter of 30 years of our current languages dispensation, what has been done and what needs to be done, especially in the politics and economics of language and language as fundamental to culture.
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has also been identified as a focal point of ACALAN work as it has been designated to serve as an entry point and a coordination hub for the activities of ACALAN in South Africa.
Similarly, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is also designated as a Focal Point in the UNESCO work on the World Atlas of Languages which is an initiative undertaken by UNESCO as part of its own contribution towards the International Decade to revitalize and preserve languages by monitoring linguistic diversity around the world, particularly in the case of endangered languages.
We are also supporting UNESCO work on the International Decade of Indigenous Languages through our dedicated Roadmap where we provide milestones for the work to be achieved for the Decade and an accompanying Action Plan to ensure ongoing implementation.
Programme Director: We would like to commend the initiative of the Department of Basic Education in its efforts to implement mother-tongue based teaching, learning and assessment in schools through the introduction of Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education (MTBBE). This will go a long way in ensuring that African languages in the school curriculum are not only languages of learning and teaching, but also languages of assessment.
- Collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE):
As the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture we are collaborating with the Department of Basic Education through our Terminology Co-ordination Services on the development of curriculum terminology for Grade 4-6. We have participated in the first phase of this collaboration focusing on the development of terminology for Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs) for Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology leading to a workshop in November last year. We shall continue to participate in further work in the finalising and reviewing of workbooks in 2024.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Department is also making strides in areas we wish to highlight on this occasion, as this work contributes to the promotion of the use and development of Mother Languages.
- National Terminology Policy
The national terminology policy is an intervention by the Department to address the broad challenges of coordinating terminology development nationally (e.g. duplication of projects, disintegrated manner in which terminology projects are implemented) and the management of terminology (e.g. standardisation of terminology development principles and methodology to enhance quality assurance of terminology products and services).
A national language stakeholder engagement was held in October 2023 to solicit stakeholder inputs on determining the scope of the policy.The national stakeholder engagement was followed by three focus groups where the research report on terminology policy was discussed.
A draft policy has been generated which will be broadly consulted among the stakeholders, including SASL stakeholders.
Once all stakeholder inputs have been consolidated and incorporated into the draft policy, the policy will then begin to undergo Cabinet approval processes.
- HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT
Our Department has provided financial support towards the development of various language technologies that assist in bridging the digital divide. These contribute in supporting mother language communication.
These language technology developments also provide people with access to information that has been inaccessible; enabling physically and technologically challenged people to use computers and other technologies, enabling official language speakers to use their mother languages in requesting services or access to information.
The language technologies developed to date include, but are not limited to, the following: English-isiXhosa medical bilingual dictionary, multilingual dictionary for N|uu language (available in hardcopy and online), South African Sign Language dictionary, language learning application for the endangered SA languages (Khoi and Nama languages).
BURSARIES
The Department first started to roll-out a language bursary initiative for higher education institutions in 2004, and this has yielded positive results. More than 5000 students have been supported. Some of the beneficiaries of the initiative are currently rendering their services as language practitioners and specialists both in public and in private sector as a result of the support received.
A new bursary cycle for 2024 to 2027 was advertised in the national media in September 2023. The Department appointed a Language Bursary Adjudication Committee to adjudicate applications. The adjudication committee met in November and December 2023. Applications were received from 14 universities. Out of 14 universities that have applied, 9 universities were recommended by the Panel and subsequently approved by the Department on 6 February 2024.
I am pleased to announce that the universities who have been chosen to award bursaries to deserving students for language studies for the next three years are as follows:
- Nelson Mandela University
- University of the Western Cape
- University of Stellenbosch
- University of Venda
- Tshwane University of Technology
- University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
- University of the Free State
- Durban University of Technology
- University of KwaZulu-Natal
All universities have been notified of the outcome of the adjudication committee through letters. The new cycle will start on 1 April 2024 and the budget for the new cycle is R16 681 000. Currently the Department is working on contracting the successful universities.
PUBLISHING
In partnership with ANFASA (Association of Non-Fiction Writers Association of South Africa), the Department through its books and publishing unit has established a publishing hub as an industry stimulus project to support authors and the publishing industry. In the 2023 to 2024 financial year, the writing and publishing of 21 books has been undertaken and they will be launched on 29 February 2024.
These are a few highlights of the work done by the Department in support of Mother Languages. The National Library of South Africa (NLSA) also continues to reprint classics in South African Indigenous languages and embark on cross translations. These classics are important sources of wisdom and reflect the richness of our culture and heritage and help us to restore our identity. These are distributed in all public libraries to encourage reading in mother languages.
Programme Director: In conclusion, let us continue to celebrate our mother languages.
Let us continue to use these languages in schools, in industry, on the global stage.
Only in this way can we attain our goal of a South Africa “in which every person is able to realise their full potential.”
Only in this way can we dream our dreams in our own languages.
And only in this way can we succeed in fulfilling these home-grown dreams in our mother languages and through the development of our motherland.
Enkosi
Ndza khensa
Ke a leboga
Ngiyabonga
Dankie
