On Wednesday 19 July 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosais yet to sign into law the South African Sign Language Bill during a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The National Assembly on 02 May 2023, approved that Section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, should be amended to include the South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language to promote the rights of individuals who live with deaf and hard hearing disabilities.
The signing of this new Language Bill by the President on Wednesday, will result in the South African Sign Language (SASL) being recognised and added as the 12th official language of South Africa. This is an important step in terms of acknowledging the rights of the previously marginalised individuals who live with deaf and hard hearing disabilities in South Africa, from a language perspective.
According to a press release by The Presidency Republic of South Africa, the “South African Sign Language is an indigenous language that constitutes an important element of South African linguistic and cultural heritage. It has its own distinct grammatical structures and lexicon and it is independent of any other language.”
This new legislation seeks to:
Through this initiative, South Africa will become the fourth country in Africa to acknowledge sign language as an official language. Other African countries that also acknowledged sign language as their official language are; Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW
Follow @orgellaent on social media for more updates
Written by: Prince Neo Mokwena
Image: 702
Add a Comment