President Cyril Ramaphosa and sign language interpreter Andiswa Gabashe at the local government summit. File Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency
Durban — The Deaf Society of South Africa has a reason to celebrate as the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) took things one step closer by approving the amendment of section 6 of the Constitution.
This comes after the decision by the National Assembly to pass a bill to declare South African Sign Language (SASL) as the 12th official language of South Africa.
SASL is a first language for the deaf community, but there are hearing people who communicate through sign language with children, friends and family who are deaf.
The bill was transmitted to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence on May 3 and now it's all up to the president to sign the bill into law.
Once this occurs, both the Constitution and the National Official Languages Act will be amended
Mzwakhe Zungu from Isipingo, who is deaf, said: “I am very happy that SASL will soon be awarded the status of an official language. We have been waiting and working tirelessly to ensure that members of the deaf community can access services and this is an important next step in ensuring that we are not marginalised in any way. We must ensure that we live out the culture of a fully inclusive society, where no person is excluded due to the language they communicate in.”
The amendment was to include SASL as an official language to promote the rights of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing. Until now, the South African Constitution provided for 11 official languages which include Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
Speaking following the passing of the bill through the NA, Moloto Mothapo, a spokesperson for Parliament, said that there has been widespread public support of the bill since its first adoption by Parliament in 2020.
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