[lg policy] South Africa: South Africa: Furious Response to Claim of Language Bans At Newspaper

[Harold Schiffman]

 South Africa: Furious Response to Claim of Language Bans At Newspaper

A memo sent out to staff at The Witness newspaper apparently implying that
they were not allowed to speak isiZulu was wrong, general manager Ernie
Roworth has said.

This comes after screengrab of an e-mail from a human resources officer at
the KwaZulu-Natal newspaper stated that the language policy of Media24, The
Witness's parent company, was that "English is the preferred language for
internal communication".

It also stated that "Media24 News is part of a bilingual business unit
where English and Afrikaans are used to communicate".

Tweeters reacted with anger, with one person saying: "I thought apartheid
was over long ago."

Khanyisani Dlomo tweeted: "So The Witness newspaper stafff were instructed
not to speak IsiZulu at work. It's banned! Mmmhhh."

"Ashamed is what they should be all 11 official languages are enshrined in
the constitution [sic]," wrote Nosipho Khulu.

But Roworth said this was "simply wrong and we're investigating how this
happened".

"Most regrettably, it led to our staff feeling excluded and marginalised.
Subsequently we have communicated our language policy to staff and called a
team meeting... to discuss the issue and dispel any confusion and distress
that may have been caused."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201602051101.html


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