Pretoria - Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile says government is set to regulate language practitioners in 2014.
Briefing the media on Friday, Mashatile said he had noted concerns expressed by South Africans, particularly the deaf community, on the performance of the sign language interpreter at the memorial service of former President Nelson Mandela on Tuesday.
"Without passing judgement, nobody should be allowed to undermine our languages. We sincerely apologise to the deaf community and to all South Africans for any offense that may have been suffered,” he said.
Mashatile said government has long recognised the need for the language profession to be reformed and improved.
Government, he said, remained committed to the promotion and protection of all languages in South Africa, not only as a constitutional requirement but also as a fundamental human right.
“We have long recognised the need for the language profession to be reformed and improved. We hope to speedily begin regulating the profession in early 2014 through the South African Language Practitioners’ Council Bill, so that this kind of incident doesn’t happen again,” said the minister.
Earlier this year, the South African Language Practitioners’ Council Bill was presented to Parliament. The bill, which provides for the regulation of the language profession, also seeks to regulate the training of language practitioners and provide for control of the accreditation and registration of language practitioners.
It also provides for the establishment of the South African Language Practitioners’ Council, which should act as an advisory body to the Minister of Arts and Culture on issues affecting the language profession. The council is also expected to prescribe the rules governing the conduct of language professionals and the procedures for compliance, monitoring and enforcement.
“We are confident that the measures in the bill will go a long way towards elevating the status of the language profession, ensuring that it is properly regulated and that it contributes meaningfully to language preservation and development,” said Mashatile. – SAnews.gov.za
