MEDIA RELEASE  
 
     
 

PanSALB calls for a South African Languages Act with punitive measures

On 17-18 January 2012, The Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture held public hearings on the government’s proposed SA Languages Bill which have revealed that most participants agreed that the bill as it stood was inadequate.

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) also added its voice in this ground breaking piece of legislation. In its current form we believe the Bill will fall short in addressing our country’s inequitable language use.

Our first point of departure was that the bill is unlikely to give effect to the government’s constitutional obligation. Government is expected to “take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of (indigenous languages)” and to ensure all 11 official languages “enjoy parity of esteem and… (are) treated equitably”.

 

Most importantly, the bill lacks the necessary mechanism to deal with language rights violators and fails to offer remedies to the victims of such violations.

 

Our submission is based on best international practices in many countries with an equitable language dispensation. A national language act is regarded as one of the core legislative mechanisms to regulate the use of the official languages. Such a language act often comprises the pre-eminent legal mechanism aimed at bringing about a form of official language equity.

 

Please click here to view our submission

 
 
 
 

South African Languages Bill – Make Your Voice Heard

 

In 2009 an attorney from Brits, one Cornelius Lourens, in an endeavour to force the promulgation of the South African Languages Bill of 2003, made an application to court that government was in violation of the Constitution (Lourens vs The President of the Republic of South Africa and others, 2009). Lourens’s application was successful and government was given two years to promulgate a Languages Act. This would be the first national languages act in South Africa.

 

In response the Department of Arts and Culture has drafted the attached South African Languages Bill which is now before the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture. According to the attached Notice from Parliament, public submissions are now being called for.

 

PanSALB has prepared its submission on the Bill, which is attached here. The submission is based on best international practices in many countries with an equitable language dispensation. A national language act is regarded as one of the core legislative mechanisms to regulate the use of the official languages. Such a language act often comprises the pre-eminent legal mechanism aimed at bringing about a form of official language equity. Canada’s renowned Bill 101 of the Charter of the French Language is regarded as a model national language act and is indeed considered to be a successful form of intervention. The same view prevails, to a varying extent, with regard to the role of national language acts in other countries and regions, including Catalonia, Scotland, Wales, Serbia and the former Soviet and Eastern Bloc states.

 

However, the SA Languages Bill in its current form falls short of addressing our country’s inequitable language use. We therefore call on all groups and individuals interested in language to make their voice heard on this Bill by making a submission to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture.

 

All submissions must be addressed to Mr Johnny van der Westhuizen (tel: 021 403 3714, cell: 083 709 8389), Committee Secretary, Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture.

 

Submissions must be received no later than 12:00 on Monday, 12 December 2011 and can be made in the following ways:

Public hearings on the Bill will be held in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 and Wednesday, 18 January 2012.

 

Should you wish to make further suggestions for PanSALB’s submission, please contact Advocate Linda Ramadi-Adebola on 012 341 9638 or email her on: lindak@pansalb.org.za on or before

7 December 2011.

  
 
  Dr Elias Malete
  PanSALB Chairperson Resigns
 

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) would like to announce that Dr Elias Malete tendered his resignation with effect Monday, 12 September 2011.

“After agonising soul searching, I have decided to step down as Chairperson of the Board. What has transpired during the last few weeks is that the relationship between the Board and the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture which is a monitoring structure of Parliament is not conducive to my continuing my role as the Chairperson,” said Dr Malete.

 

Dr Malete was appointed on 23 July 2010 as the Board Chairperson, and Ms Masindi Sadiki as Deputy, replacing Professor Sihawu Ngubane and Professor Zodwa Motsa respectively. On 16 August 2011 he was re-elected as the Chairperson with Ms Sadiki as his Deputy. The change was necessitated by the requirement of Sec 6 (2) of the PanSALB Act that “an election be held annually”.

Dr Malete has served and devoted his time in the name of language development, and in particular African languages, through PanSALB structures until he reached a stage where he was afforded the opportunity to lead PanSALB. Dr Malete tried everything at his disposal to lead the organisation under very difficult circumstances it had inherited over the years. These include the following:

 

Administrative

Since its establishment in 1997, the Board has never had a Corporate Governance Framework and charter to assist Board committees exercising their responsibilities, improve and strengthen the current corporate governance practices, policies, procedures, protocols and frameworks, until recently.

 

Legislation

It is has been the Board’s view that the PanSALB Act of 1995 as amended in 1999 has serious flaws and impacts negatively on its functioning. For instance, the Act requires that “an election be held annually”. It also makes Board members non-executive directors who are not fulltime in the organisation. Moreover, it compromises Section 181 of the Constitution as it confers powers on the Minister of Arts and Culture, and not Parliament, to appoint the Board. It also grants the Minister powers to terminate the membership of any person appointed in terms of this Act.

The Report of the ad hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions draws attention to the latter. These are some of the issues that PanSALB has raised with Parliament but to no avail.

Funding

In its management report for the year ending 31 March 2010 the Auditor-General raised an opinion that the increase in the grant that PanSALB would receive for the next three years is not in line with inflation rates and general increases of goods and service. Therefore, PanSALB might have a going concern problem in the near future.

 

For the record, PanSALB operates 9 Provincial Offices, 13 National Language Bodies (NLBs), 9 Provincial Language Committees (PLCs) and 11 National Lexicography Units (NLUs). Through these structures PanSALB has created 734 part-time and fulltime jobs.

 

At issue is that the institution is not afforded an adequate opportunity to motivate its budgetary requirements before Parliament or its relevant committees.

“I wish to thank my fellow Board members for providing the necessary political and strategic guidance. Also, my appreciation goes to the Accounting Officer and his staff for their commitment to ensuring that PanSALB delivers on its constitutional mandate,” Dr Malete said.

As a result of the resignation of Dr Malete the Board urgently convened an extraordinary session where Professor Sihawu Ngubane was elected as its new Chairperson and Ms Masindi Sadiki was retained as Deputy.

 

The Board also considered the resignation of the Acting CEO, Mr Chris Swepu. After deliberating on the matter the Board requested the Acting CEO to reconsider his resignation and continue to act in this capacity.

 

“I am pleased to announce that Mr Swepu will continue acting as the Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, until the position is filled and has the full support of the Board,” announced Professor Ngubane

 

End

 

Released on behalf of PanSALB by: Sibusiso Nkosi

Senior Manager: Communication and Marketing

Tel 012 341 9638

  
     
 
  Mr Chris Swepu - Acting Chief Executive Officer
  PanSALB celebrates a third successive unqualified audit opinion from AGSA
 

The Pan South African Language Board today welcomed its third successive unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General South Africa. Speaking from Pretoria, the Acting CEO of PanSALB, Mr Chris Swepu, thanked the Board for its support and his staff for their patience during trying times. Swepu added “the cooperation between management and the Board has made this turnaround possible. Our staff members have endured throughout our tough approach to compliance. For this we wish to thank them as well.”
 

The three successive clean audits signal a huge turnaround from the disclaimer of audit opinion the organisation received three years ago. PanSALB is hoping that its performance, as alluded to by the AGSA report, will lead to better funding in the new financial year. “Our country needs a financial model that recognises good corporate governance. The President of the republic has on numerous occasion called on public institutions to clean up their act and work towards clean audit reports; we have done just that and are determined to continue to excel and execute our mandate to the best of our ability,” Swepu added.

 

However, like many critical state organs, PanSALB continues to have a serious challenge with underfunding and this prompted a request in writing to President Jacob Zuma for urgent intervention. The request for extra funding was in line with the Acting CEO’s mission to “build a model institution that would be a point of reference whenever South Africans think of good governance”.

 

Swepu thanked the Chairperson of the Board, Dr Elias Malete, for his calm and conciliatory approach to the business of the organisation. “Without a good working relationship between Chairpersons and CEOs of institutions not much is achievable,” said Swepu.

 

End

Released on behalf of PanSALB by: Sibusiso Nkosi

Senior Manager: Communication and Marketing

Tel 012 341 9638 

  
     
 
  Dr Elias Malete Chairperson
  Legal costs to get rid of CEO justified
   
 

Compliance with South African labour laws compelled the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) to spend R5.4 million on legal fees to resolve its legal disputes with the former CEO, Mrs Ntombenhle Nkosi, said Dr Elias Malete, the Chairperson of PanSALB, in his response to concerns raised by the Democratic Alliance over the weekend.

 

Firstly, it is important to note that Mrs Nkosi was suspended pending the findings of an independent forensic investigation conducted by Nkonki Advisory Services (Nkonki). The forensic report recommended that Mrs Nkosi be charged with financial misconduct and subsequently, fourteen (14) charges were brought against her.

 

These included the following among others: Failure to Appoint a Bid Adjudication Committee in Writing, Contravention of Treasury Regulations, Contravening Regulation 15(1) (a) of the PanSALB Regulations, Making Incorrect Statements, Financial Misconduct, and other charges.

 

Secondly, the enquiry which was delayed predominantly by court actions by Mrs Nkosi finally took place over several days from December 2010 to February 2011. The hearing was concluded on 17 February 2011.

 

Thirdly, as a measure to compel Mrs Nkosi not to continue delaying her hearing, PanSALB tried to stop Mrs Nkosi’s salary on 09 December 2009. She took the organisation to the Labour Court which unfortunately ruled against PanSALB and forced the organisation to reinstate her salary. The organisation also tried to negotiate a settlement to buy her out of the remainder of the contract, but Mrs Nkosi turned down the offer.  

 

“Whilst we share the concern about legal costs and the payment of a salary to Mrs Nkosi for so long, we however wish to point out that our responsibility is to observe the laws of the country. Mrs Nkosi was on a precautionary suspension and as such was deemed innocent until proven guilty. The Labour Relations Act provides for such protection and as such PanSALB merely complied”. As much as we share the concerns of the DA, unfortunately it was an issue that we as the Board had little control over, as the matter went in and out of the courts. We had a duty to defend our actions and the integrity of our institution in the management of public funds.” said Dr Malete.

 

Mrs Nkosi was suspended on 20 February 2009 as a result of allegations of financial mismanagement against her and her case was only concluded on 17 February 2011.

 

On 08 June 2011 Mrs Nkosi was found guilty and on 24 June 2011 the Chairperson of the enquiry recommended that she be dismissed. The Board endorsed the recommendation thus dismissed Mrs Nkosi since her charges were of serious nature and involved mismanagement of taxpayers money.

 

The Board is pleased that the matter was concluded in this manner internally and wishes to point out that Mrs Nkosi continues to enjoy the right to appeal and to pursue the matter further as provided for in the laws of the country.

 

“We will continue to build a better organisation to deliver multilingualism to our people and to ensure that the provisions of language parity of esteem as enshrined in our constitution are observed. We welcome criticism from every sector of the society as we undertake this mammoth task but such criticism must be constructive and within appropriate context”, Malete added.

End

Released on behalf of PanSALB by: Sibusiso Nkosi

Senior Manager: Communication and Marketing

Tel: 012 341 9638

  
     
 
  Dr Elias Malete Chairperson
  Setting the record straight on alleged corruption
   
 

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) wishes to correct some misinformation being presented regarding allegations of corruption taking place within the organisation.

“For the record I want to emphasise that PanSALB is one of the few organisations that have managed to get an unqualified audit from the South African Auditor-General for the past two years. It’s very saddening to now hear accusations that the organisation is corrupt,” said Dr Elias Malete, Chairperson of the Board.
 

The misinformation came about after the organisation was asked to appear before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, to make a presentation on “governance and operational issues”.

Unfortunately, PanSALB did not get a chance to make its presentation because the committee was of the view that its presentation was not addressing issues like allegations about suspected corruption which were made by a dismissed employee.

Dr Malete explains, “The allegations are not new and the Board had previously briefed the committee on the matter. The Board had hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate the allegations, including the claim that the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Chris Swepu, had faked his qualifications. All these allegations were false, spread by a former employee who was bent on destroying the reputation of the Board.

“We presented the findings of the audit to the Portfolio Committee while Dr Tshenuwani Farisani was still the Chairperson. It took us by surprise to learn that the committee is still interested in pursuing this matter further. Had we been asked to include this matter in our presentation we would have done so but unfortunately the request from the committee did not specifically mentioned it,” added Dr Malete.

He further stated that the Board stood firmly behind the leadership of its acting CEO, Mr Chris Swepu and his team. “They have been transparent with the Board on all matters and have taken us to greater heights,” he said.

In its management report for the year ending 31 March 2010 the South African Auditor-General raised an opinion that the increase in the grant that PanSALB received for the next three years is not in line with inflation rates and general increases of goods and service. Therefore, PanSALB might have a going concern problem in the near future. The Board did alert Parliament to this situation as early as 2009.

It is disheartening to report that the organisation is now on its knees financially and this is having undesirable results – the suspension of all projects and programmes for the current financial year and high staff turnover. According to Dr Malete, this is the real issue that is affecting the performance of the organisation and not corruption as reported. He also confirmed that the Board has written to President Zuma requesting urgent intervention.

“We wish that Parliament would start listening to us and take these issues we are tabling before them seriously. It is saddening to say the least that such an opportunity is given to a trumped-up story made by a discredited source,” concluded Dr Malete.

End

Released on behalf of PanSALB by: Sibusiso Nkosi
Senior Manager: Communication and Marketing
Tel 012 341 9638

  
 
 
 
 

Multilingualism Awards – Nominations Invited

Johannesburg, 11 January 2011 – The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) invites nominations for the 2010/11 PanSALB Multilingual Awards. These prestigious awards recognise individuals and organisations that actively promote and preserve South Africa’s 11 official languages as well as Khoi, San, Nama and sign language.
Awards will be made in eight categories:

  1. Music: Open to individuals and groups, for multilingualism in song or an album
  2. Media (Thetha Masombuka Award): Open to journalists and programmes in the print or broadcast media, which help to promote and preserve mother tongue while demonstrating respect for any of the other official languages or for Khoi, San, Nama or sign language
  3. Language and literature: Open to organisations and individuals, for example writers, who help to promote and preserve the official languages as well as Khoi, San, Nama and sign language
  4. Technology and business category: Open to organisations and individuals, for harnessing technology to promote multilingualism in business or consumer affairs
  5. Public sector category: Open to national, provincial and local departments, district municipalities and constitutional bodies, for the best service delivery campaign, project or programme that promotes multilingualism
  6. Education category: Open to institutions of learning, for multilingualism in their language policy, study guides and the courses they offer
  7. Interpretation and translation category: Open to organisations and individuals, for projects that promote multilingualism
  8. Chairperson’s Lifetime Achievement Award: To the individual or institution adjudged by the judges to have made the greatest contribution to multilingualism

“PANSALB is calling on all agencies, organisations and individuals working in South African indigenous languages to enter the 2010/11 Multilingualism Awards. Members of the public are also encouraged to nominate those who promote our South African languages in these various categories,” says PanSALB Acting CEO, Chris Swepu.

PanSALB was established to promote the equal use of the 11 official South African languages, and to help develop all our indigenous languages. It actively promotes multilingualism as a national resource and vehicle for national development. PanSALB also encourages the best use of the country's linguistic resources, so that South Africans can be free from all forms of linguistic discrimination, domination and division and can make the linguistic choices that suit them best.

The 2011 PanSALB Awards Ceremony promises colourful festivities to celebrate the vibrancy of South Africa’s cultural landscape. The event will also showcase Khoi, San, Nama and sign language, which are recognised by the Constitution although not official South African languages.

The PanSALB Multilingualism Awards are held each year to recognise and promote the diverse languages used in South Africa.

Entry forms are available on the PanSALB Multilingualism Awards website http://www.pansalb.org.za. Entries close on 1 March 2011 and can be emailed to: communication@pansalb.org.za or brite4@britespark.co.za.

Alternatively, forms can be posted to: PanSALB, Private Bag X08, Arcadia 0007, or delivered to: PanSALB Head Office, 523 Church Street, 5th floor Provisus Building, Arcadia 0083, Pretoria.
(Ends)

Released by:Nthabiseng Selaledi or Tharusha Pillay
Britespark Communications
Tel: 011 315 0092
011 0234 8069

For: Sibusiso Nkosi
Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB)
012 341 9638

PanSALB to meet with Gauteng MEC for Education to discuss alleged language rights violation at Roosevelt High School

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) will on Thursday meet with the Gauteng MEC for education, Ms Barbara Creecy, in an endeavour to resolve an alleged language rights violation case at Roosevelt High School in Johannesburg.

This follows media reports that a Grade 11 learner, Luthando Nxasana, was allegedly expelled from class, prevented from writing two mid-year exams or going to the toilet, and forced to spend three school days standing in a foyer for speaking isiXhosa to her classmate on the school premises.

PanSALB welcomes and applauds the initiative by the MEC for requesting that the organisation meet with her to address this matter, as this kind of problem has become common in former model C schools.

PanSALB is concerned that a pattern is emerging in former model C schools where the languages of African majorities are marginalised and underdeveloped in comparison to Afrikaans and particularly English. Learners are being punished if they are found speaking their home languages.
We cannot continue with a situation in which African children are made to leave their African languages at the gates of learning. This shows that the present framework of language policy in our schools presents major challenges. As quickly as possible, we need to expunge language domination from our educational institutions.
“Even if the language of education in school is English, you can’t stop people from speaking their mother tongue to each other,” said the acting CEO of PanSALB, Chris Swepu. He added that school language policies may not contravene the provisions of the constitution. Therefore learners may not be discriminated against on the basis of their languages at school.
The ideals regarding language enshrined in our constitution have to find expression in society. Our schools should create an environment in which children learn how to celebrate and respect our cultural diversity.
PanSALB hopes this meeting with the MEC will be a catalyst for a comprehensive approach to address gaps in the South African Schools Act that are currently being exploited to violate our constitution.    

The Board has received a formal complaint regarding this matter and a further investigation will be conducted to address the problem.

(Ends)

Released on behalf of PanSALB by:                                   

Sibusiso Nkosi
Communication and Marketing Manager
Tel       012 341 9638
Email: sibusiso@pansalb.org.za

PanSALB Senior Legal Advisor Suspended

Following media reports about the above matter, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), Chris Swepu would like to take this opportunity and confirm that he has suspended the organisation’s Senior Legal Advisor, Advocate Zixolisile Feni, pending an investigation into possible charges of misconduct.

Advocate Feni was served with his letter of suspension on Thursday last week in terms of regulation 17(a) of the PanSALB Regulations which grant the accounting officer authority to suspend an employee until an investigation or disciplinary hearing with regards to a possible charge has been completed.

“Although it was not an easy decision to take, it had to be done to bring stability and discipline within the organisation as there is no one who is above the law at PanSALB including its accounting officer. This decision has been communicated to the Board,” said Swepu.

The suspension is without any loss of remuneration or benefits to the employee, except that he was requested to hand over all assets of the Board that were in his possession and not to come to the office without prior authorisation.

PanSALB would like to state that the suspension of Advocate Feni is no way related to the allegations of mismanagement that he has sent to Parliament. We have already written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture, Dr Tshenuwani Farisani, indicating our availability to meet with him.

We would like to appeal to all concerned to give the disciplinary process a chance to deal with this matter without any interference.

(End)

Released on behalf of PanSALB by: Sibusiso Nkosi
Manager: Communication and Marketing
Te: 012 341 9638
  Email: sibusiso@pansalb.org.za
  Date:            17 May 2010

PanSALB welcomes court ruling on Language Act

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) embraces the ruling made yesterday by Judge Ben du Plessis to force government to enact a language act within two years.

“Whilst we appreciate the ruling, as PanSALB we find it regrettable that it took a court case of this nature to sensitise government about the need to honour the Constitution and cater for the linguistic needs of all our communities,” said its Acting Chief Executive Officer Chris Swepu.

Although PanSALB was cited as a respondent in the case and never opposed the application brought about by Cornelus Lourens, who was seeking an order compelling government to finalise and promulgate national legislation to regulate and monitor the use of all 11 official languages.

“We have been labelled as a toothless watch dog because our founding act does not bestow enough monitoring mechanisms to deal with transgressors. We have been calling for the enactment of this legislation, as we feel it will give us more authority to perform our monitoring role,” Swepu explained.

It is the belief of PanSALB that government had enough time to finalise and promulgate national legislation to regulate and monitor the use of all 11 official languages, so that the majority of illiterate citizens can be able to access information using their mother tongue.

“It is ironic that more than a decade after the dawn of South Africa's democracy the majority of citizens are still battling to access information using their mother tongue”, Swepu added.

PanSALB will continue to engage parliament and government to ensure that there are no necessary delays in implementing this judgement and it respect the ruling by the court which seeks to advance its mandate.
  (Ends)

Released by: Sibusiso Nkosi - Communication and Marketing Manager
Tel       012 341 9638
Cell     082 855 4436
Date:   17 March 2010

Finalists In PanSALB Multilingualism Awards Announced 

The finalists in the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) annual multilingualism awards for 2010 have been announced.

The awards recognise individuals and organisations that promote and preserve  multilingualism and are made in eight categories - music, media, language and literature, technology and business, public sector, education, interpretation and translation and the chairperson’s special award for a lifetime achievement.

In the category for music the finalists are KB Motsilanyane, Thembi Seete and Theo Kgosinkwe.  

In the language, written and oral literature category the finalists in Afrikaans are authors André Brink, Antjie Krog and Deon Meyer. 

In Setswana the finalists are the Reverend Dietrich Mascher and Thapelo Moraka.

In isiXhosa the finalists are Professors Mncedisi Jordan and Peter Mtuze and Ncebakisi Mogale.

In Tshivenda the finalists are Domina Napoleon Munzhelele, Konanani Muebi and NAPS Publishers.  

The finalists for Sesotho are Kabelo Duncan Kgatea, Paul Katiso Nkhoesa and Thapelo Moraka.

In South African sign language the finalists are Francois Deysel and Philemon Akash.

In Khoi, Nama and San languages the finalists are Gerhardus Damarah and the Khwedam Language Committee. 

In the media category the finalists in the television programme section are the Dtv programme on SABC3 and 7de Laan on SABC2.  In the journalism section the finalists are Aron Mbonani, radio sports commentator on Ikwekwezi FM, Goitsemanga Seleka, presenter on Motsweding FM,  NNdededzeni Ramushwana and Themba Makeleni of SABC TV News.   

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

In the public sector category the finalists are the Department of Basic Education, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports in the Western Cape, the Free State Department of Health and the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture in the Eastern Cape.

In the education category the finalists for higher education institutions are the Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg and North-West’s Potchefstroom campus and for basic education institutions are the CEFUPS Academy and the Merara Institute at the CSIR. 

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

The winners will be announced in Johannesburg on Saturday, 20 February 2010 to coincide with International Mother Tongue Day on 21 February.

The chairman’s special lifetime award will also be made on Saturday evening.  It goes to the individual or institution that has, according to the judges, made a meaningful contribution to multilingualism.   

(Ends)

Released by: Sibusiso Nkosi - Communication and Marketing Manager
Tel       012 341 9638
Date:   22 February 2010

About PanSALB

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.