Issued by: SA Communication Service
MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PAN SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE BOARD, PROF N C P GOLELE
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa has, through the Pan South African Language Board Act of 1995, established the Pan South African Language Board to
"Provide for the recognition, implementation and furtherance of multilingualism in the Republic of South Africa; and the development of previously marginalised languages; to establish a Pan South African Language Board and to provide for matters connected therewith".
The Board was inaugurated on 24 April 1996, and held its first meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday 15 May 1996. All members were present and the meeting was precided over by the chairperson, Professor N C P Golele.
Attention was paid to the establishment of the administrative infrastructure of the Board in accordance with the stipulations of the Pan South African Language Board Act (No. 59 of 1995). It was agreed to advertise the post of Chief Executive Officer of the Board as soon as possible since this official will be responsible for the day to day running of the Board's affairs.
The Board also discussed issues of accountability of members as well as the division of labour among members and the scope of their re to be defined with more precist meeting of the Board, at whichtailed strategic planning will take place.
It was also agreed that the Board would make submissions to the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in regard to the proposed revision of legislation pertaining to the Woordeboek van de Afrikaanse Taal, the intention of which is to extend to all the official languages of South Africa the same kind of state support hitherto enjoyed by Afrikaans and English only.
The next meeting of the Board will be held on 1 and 2 August in Pretoria. Among the more important and urgent issues on the agenda are the impact of the new Constitution on the terms of reference of the Board, which was established in terms of the interim Constitution of 1993, and the Board's relationship with existing language boards, language NGOs, and lobbies such as the Committee for Marginalised Languages. Special attention is to be paid to the interaction between the Board and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, which is to be established in terms of the new Constitution.