Minister Paul Mashatile confirms regulation of Language Practitioners' is imminent
13 Dec 2013
Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Paul Mashatile has noted the concerns expressed by South Africans, especially members of the Deaf community regarding the performance of the sign language interpreter at the Memorial service of former President Nelson Mandela.
"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," said Mashatile.
Government remains 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 ever again," he added.