Madiba Honoured

There were ululations and chanting when PanSALB bestowed the Chairman’s Lifetime Award on former State President, Dr Nelson Mandela.

The announcement was made during a star-studded, glittering and ostentatious PanSALB Multilingualism Awards, held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Saturday, 20 February 2010.

PanSALB Chairperson Professor Sihawukele Ngubane said Mandela has done more than most to develop, nurture and enhance the uniquely diverse quality of the South African population. He was instrumental in the formation of PanSALB.

“He sacrificed the biggest part of his younger life to ensure that never again will any person be discriminated against because of the language that he or she speaks, the colour of his or her skin, his or her gender or sexual orientation.

“One of Madiba’s many wise sayings states that if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

Madiba was not the only winner on the night. In the category for music the winner is singer Theo Kgosinkwe.  His award-winning album ‘I Am’ achieved gold status.  He received the Best Afro-Pop album award last year.  The runners-up are KB Motsilanyane and Thembi Seete.   

In the language, written and oral literature category the winner for Afrikaans is Deon Meyer, top-selling South African crime thriller author, whose books have been translated into 20 languages.  The runners-up are André Brink and Antjie Krog.  

In Setswana the winner is the Reverend Dietrich Mascher and the runner-up Thapelo Moraka.

In isiXhosa the joint winners are Professors Peter Mtuze and Mncedisi Jordan.  Mtuze was head of African Languages at the University of Rhodes until 2000 and advisor to the African Languages Association.   

In Tshivenda the winner is NAPS Publishers and the runners-up are Domina Napoleon Munzhelele and Konanani Muebi. 

The winner for Sesotho is playright Thapelo Moraka and the runners-up are Paul Katiso Nkhoesa and Kabelo Duncan Kgatea.

In South African sign language the winner is Francois Deysel of the Deaf Federation of South Africa and the runners-up Philemon Akash and the Sign  Language Department.

In Khoi, Nama and San languages the winner is the Khwedam Language Committee and the runner-up Gerhardus Damarah.  

In the media category the winner in the television programme section is the SABC 3 magazine programme for the deaf - Dtv programme.  The programme, broadcast at 12:00 on Sundays, educates, motivates, inspires and empowers and is made accessible to a broader audience with subtitles and voice over.

The runner-up in this section is the popular soapie, 7de Laan, broadcast on SABC 2 on weekday evenings at 18:30.

The Thetha Masombuka award for journalism goes to NNdededzeni Ramushwana of SABC TV News.  The runners-up are Aron Mbonani, radio sports commentator on Ikwekwezi FM, Goitsemodimo Seleka, presenter on Motsweding FM, and Themba Makeleni of SABC TV News.   

First National Bank is the winner in the section for a commercial promoting indigenous languages.

The winner for companies in the technology and business category that promote multilingualism is Cell Life.  The runners-up are Mohapi Financial Services and Mediasoft Technologies. In the section for technological innovation the winner is Professor Danie Prinsloo of the University of Pretoria’s Department of African Languages.  The runners-up are Professor de Schryver of the University of Pretoria and Dr Marietta Alberts of PanSALB’s terminology section.

In the public sector category the joint winners are the Department of Basic Education for the Kha Ri Guide campaign and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports in the Western Cape for the Nama language campaign.   The runners-up are the Free State Department of Health and the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture in the Eastern Cape.

In the education category the winner for higher education institutions is the University of Johannesburg.  The runners-up are the Universities of Cape Town and North-West’s Potchefstroom campus.

The winner in this category for basic education institutions is the CEFUPS Academy in Nelspruit and the runner-up is the Merara Institute at the CSIR. 

The winner in the interpretation and translation category is the North-West University’s Potchefstroom campus.  The runners-up are the Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disability and the QuadPara Association of South Africa.   

PanSALB acting Chief Executive Officer Chris Swepu says it is not incidental that the awards were made on the eve of International Mother Tongue Day – 21 February.

“These awards are part of PanSALB’s continued efforts to ensure that the diverse languages used in South Africa are developed and promoted to their fullest. 

“The challenges for International Mother Tongue Day are for the world’s nearly   6 000 languages to join forces to ensure that minority languages are not threatened by the so-called international languages of communication.  Those minority languages that are threatened with extinction must be protected.  In South Africa, people are proud to be associated with the language they learnt as a toddler.  At PanSALB we are proud to protect this right,” he says. 

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) is a statutory body established to create conditions to develop and promote the equal use and enjoyment of all the official South African languages. It actively promotes an awareness of multilingualism as a national resource.