South Africa: Municipalities 'ignoring' language policy

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Municipalities 'ignoring' language policy

By Candes Keating

The majority of provincial government departments are implementing the
Western Cape language policy, but more than a third of municipalities are
completely ignoring it. The policy, which was adopted in 2005, requires
all provincial government departments and municipalities to promote the
use of the province's three official languages - English, Afrikaans and
Xhosa. But according to a survey conducted by the Western Cape Language
Committee, more than a third of municipalities have ignored the policy.

'At police stations, people cannot give affidavits in their own language'
Western Cape Language Committee chairperson Dr Michael le Cordeur, who led
a debate on the survey during a workshop with government and municipal
officials on Wednesday, said: "The survey tells us that many government
departments are doing well in implementing the policy, but there are still
some departments and municipalities (that) do not obey the language
policy." Only 66 percent of municipalities in the province were adhering
to some aspects of the policy, Le Cordeur said. The survey found that all
district municipalities had not appointed suitable staff to drive the
language policy.

It also found that only 50 percent of district municipalities had made
provision for the implementation of the policy in their financial planning
for 2006/07. Signage in all district municipalities is still only in
English or Afrikaans, and none of the internal or external signs is
available in all three official languages. Marketing material at most
municipalities is also not available in all three official languages.
However, provincial departments are fairing much better in implementing
the policy.

Le Cordeur said all departments were at different levels, but most were
doing something to promote multi-lingualism. More than 60 percent of the
departments had already appointed staff to drive the language policy, 12,5
percent had drawn up a language code of conduct for internal communication
and 25 percent made use of interpreters during meetings. Another 37,5
percent had all their documents available in all three official languages.
But Le Cordeur said the department of health and the police were lagging
behind the other departments. "We need the police and health department to
do a bit more to ensure that their services are available in all three
languages.

"At police stations, people cannot give affidavits in their own language,
while hospital patients can't communicate in their own language." Quintus
van der Merwe, head of the language unit, said: "This policy is something
that has to phased in and cannot be done overnight." Van der Merwe said
policy must be phased in by 2010, but he added that there were budget
constraints as well as a shortage of language professionals. Dr Neville
Alexander of the Project for Alternative Education in South Africa, who
helped formulate the policy, said: "This is a move in the right direction.
We need an appropriate mix of language at schools, universities and work
places. This can only maximise economic involvement."

However, Alexander said much more needed to be done to promote Xhosa.
"English continues to be dominant, Afrikaans is losing ground, but Xhosa
has not arrived yet," he said.


This article was originally published on page 10 of The Cape Argus on
February 22, 2007

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20070222115242630C689237

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