<div dir="ltr"><h2 class="gmail-headline">Department of Public Service proposes its three official languages</h2>
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Nomahlubi Jordaan | 28 September, 2016 12:12</div>
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Pan African South African Languages Board chief executive Dr
Mpho Monareng said the language policy was important in the promotion
and advancement of South African languages‚ but could be “reckless” if
the process was not coordinated properly. File photo <br>
<b>Image by:</b> Circa</div>
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The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) wants
to conduct its business in three languages - IsiZulu‚ English and
Setswana.</h3>
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<p>Concerns have been raised that the move – contained
in the department’s draft language policy‚ which is open for public
scrutiny and comment - will leave other languages out in the cold.</p><div class="gmail-teads-inread"><div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label">ADVERTISING</div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits"><a href="http://inread-experience.teads.tv" target="_blank"><span class="gmail-teads-ui-components-credits-colored">inRead</span> invented by Teads</a></div></div></div><p>Pan
African South African Languages Board chief executive Dr Mpho Monareng
said the language policy was important in the promotion and advancement
of South African languages‚ but could be “reckless” if the process was
not coordinated properly.</p><p>“It’s a good idea‚ but you need
a plan to ensure that all languages are represented well. It might not
be sensible to give traction to certain languages‚” said Monareng.</p><p>“My worry is languages like XiTsonga and XiVenda will suffer because they are not popular.”</p><p>Afriforum
deputy chief executive Alana Bailey said choosing all 11 official
languages would have been the best option for the DPSA.</p><p>“Some
departments‚ such as justice‚ use a very fair and sensible approach by
using all languages …. in a key department such as public service‚ this
would have been the best option‚” said Bailey.</p><p>The DPSA
is proposing to use IsiZulu‚ English and Setswana - on request - to
communicate with government departments‚ members of the public and on
official forms. English will be the medium of communication within the
department.</p><p>DPSA spokesman Dumisani Nkwamba said the
policy was still subject to public comment: “This is a draft policy and
members of the public have 30 days to make submissions on it.</p><p>“We are going to study the submissions and the DG (director-general) will make a decision.”</p><p>Nkwamba said the department could add more languages to the policy‚ depending on public feedback.</p><p>He
said the policy was drawn up in response to a directive from the
Department of Arts and Culture‚ which is the custodian of the Use of
Languages Act of 2012.</p><p>According to the act‚ “every
department‚ national public entity and national enterprise must adopt a
language policy on its use of official languages”.</p><p>If the
proposed three languages are adopted‚ any member of the public needing
to communicate with the department in a different tongue will have to
put in a written request‚ which will be considered within 30 days.</p><p>The same would apply to a person who wanted to communicate with the department in sign language.'</p><p><a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016/09/28/Department-of-Public-Service-proposes-its-three-official-languages">http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016/09/28/Department-of-Public-Service-proposes-its-three-official-languages</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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