Date: 12/06/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Banquet of National Consultative Conference


ADDRESS BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT ZUMA TO THE BANQUET OF THE NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE ON THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY FRAMEWORK, Kopanong Conference Centre, Benoni, 12 June

The Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Dr Ngubane;
Representatives of Government at all Levels;
Representatives of organisations present;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is my pleasure to be part of this National Consultative Conference as we continue the process of outlining how we intend to promote the equitable use of the eleven official languages of South Africa, through the National Language Policy Framework.

Language defines the values and cultural systems of a community of people. It is through language that people define their existence and relationship to other human beings.

The struggle against apartheid was therefore not only about defeating the system, but also to ensure that all South Africans enjoy equal rights before the law and in society.

Our vision was that all South Africans, irrespective of their cultural or linguistic background would be able to speak their languages with pride.

The complete restoration of the pride and dignity of all our people also became one of our goals in this new democratic society.

We are therefore steadfast in our commitment to promote the use of all official languages, as enshrined in our constitution.

The National Language Policy Framework has outlined some of the very important and key challenges in our drive to ensure a more equitable use of the eleven official languages. We believe that this language policy framework will assist this process.

In promoting multilingualism, provinces and local government structures will also model their policies in line with the guidelines contained in this policy framework, having taken into account their regional and local circumstances, communities' needs and preferences as stated in the constitution.

Our commitment to promote all official languages also extends to all legislative programmes.

In addition, the development of language policies within the private sector will be of great benefit to our quest of promoting an equitable use of all eleven official languages.

As such government will, where necessary, support such initiatives as they seek to enhance our campaign to promote multilingualism.

We will also be expecting that each government structure will agree on a working language or languages, for both internal and external communication. The provision is that where practically possible, no person shall be denied access to a government service because of their language.

In the past many people were denied access to government services because they could not communicate in a certain language. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the key pillars of a democratic state is an informed citizenry that is able to engage government on a range of issues.

Therefore it is important that all government documents become accessible to the general populace. We therefore have to invest in linguistics.

Research and experience indicate that there is a need for human resource development in the field of linguistics, including at tertiary institution level.

In more specific terms, the core of translation expertise will have to be expanded both in government departments and in the context of freelance language practitioners such as translators, editors and interpreters.

The increased need for the services of professional language practitioners will require further skills training.

This increase in translation work will also require accelerated development of terminology in the official languages and a "National Termbank" that is accessible to government and freelance language practitioners.

The development of many of our languages into mainstream commercial languages will also require that we develop technology that enhances these languages. The availability of Human Language Technology applications for the indigenous languages will play a major supporting role in language facilitation activities.

It is therefore in this area that we hope our people, especially those in the IT sector, would assist us in developing the necessary software to provide such services, for example, as spell check languages other than English in our computer programmes.

The progressive phasing in of the implementation of the policy in the short, medium and long term is government's preferred strategy at all levels. It is our view that it will take time to ensure that multilingualism has firmly taken root in our country.

With regards to government publications, implementation will be phased in flexibly and pragmatically by government structures over a short period. The advantage of a gradual phasing in is that departments could incrementally develop capacity and manage the implementation process more effectively.

I must, before I conclude, commend the media institutions that have sought to contribute to multilingualism in the country. There are in KwaZulu-Natal for example, three commercial isiZulu language newspapers and a host of community publications in the isiZulu language.

The public broadcaster, the SABC, is also making its contribution to multilingualism, with the diversity of radio stations in different languages, and having now introduced news bulletins in isiNdebele, isiSwati and other languages. This is a step in the right direction.

We would like to emphasise that all sectors have a critical role to play in promoting multilingualism. It is our hope that we are going to receive feedback from all sectors, as we decisively move forward with the implementation of the policy framework.

Let us all make it our challenge to learn each other's languages and appreciate our unity in diversity as a South African nation.

I thank you!

Issued by The Presidency
Source: Sapa
12 June 2003