Court affirms decision on PanSALB board

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The South African High Court has ruled in favour of Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa for dissolving the board of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).

Minister Mthethwa dissolved the board on 12 January 2016 for a number of reasons, including that there was no common understanding between the department and the board as to what the strategic role of the board should be.

“The judgment 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 Mthethwa.

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. – SAnews.gov.za