CAPACITY BUILDING FOR LANGUAGE FACILITATION Presentation to the Portfolio Committee August 2007

Introduction Capacity building is necessary for language infrastructure Officialisation of a language means that the language can be used anywhere –Is government ready? Accommodating people’s languages also means ensuring that the benefits of service delivery are distributed equally as people will have access It is also about enhancing their participation to ensure that they have a voice in government matters

Milestones National Language Policy Framework (NLPF) was approved on 12 February 2003 Initially, the DAC’s emphasis was on language legislation –Draft SA Languages Bill Implementation Plan for the NLPF was drafted and adopted by MINMEC and the Technical Committee National Consultative Conference was held on June 2003 –Resolved to adopt and endorse the SA Languages Bill as the legislative framework to implement multilingualism

Postponing the SA Languages Act After further consultations with government clusters (social, governance and administration, etc.) as well as with the (new) Minister of Arts and Culture, the realisation was that it would be more prudent to rather build the necessary infrastructure before the Act could be in place.

Capacity Building Cabinet has approved the full implementation of the NLPF In essence, this means that government departments, must as a matter of urgency establish Language Units (LUs) –Language units will ensure the sustained use of the official languages It was recommended that the Units be established by especially for the identified departments

Other imperatives for capacity building Establishment of a South Africa Language Practitioners’ Council Development of languages –Enhance economic value of African languages –Publish teaching and learning materials in the official languages –Offer language bursaries –Develop terminologies and vocabularies in all official languages Accelerate development of Human Language Technologies Encourage the media to show a multilingual image Synergise PanSALB and NLS projects to ensure maximum use of available resources

NLPF Requirements Translation of government documents into all the 11 official languages Where this is not possible, 6 languages to be used as follows: –Tshivenda –Xitsonga –English –Afrikaans; –At least 1 language from the Nguni group –At least 1 language from the Sotho group

Implementation Plan Implementation to be phased incrementally 10 departments identified –Departments that deliver services directly to the public All departments and provinces to be encouraged to establish their own language units There must be a difference in publications: more to appear in African languages Government to partner with other institutions (e.g. universities) on identified projects

Departments identified Home Affairs Justice and Constitutional Development Social Development Health Safety and Security Correctional Services Education Housing Provincial and Local Government Land Affairs

Functions of Language Units Entrench the principle of multilingualism Raise awareness Manage and facilitate all translation and editing services Proof-read and facilitate the printing of official documents Facilitate the use of interpreting services Initiate and implement language projects

Funding Departments and provinces will be responsible for budgeting Provide adequate financial support in line with the METF cycles Costing for the Language Policy was done at the request of the Cabinet Committee for the Social Sector –It showed that they would not spend more than 3% of their total normal budgets

Budgeting Budget to take into account: –Recruitment and training of staff; –Salaries of staff; –Work programme to drive implementation; –Outsourcing of translation services; –Number of publications within a department; and –Other standard items such as office equipment

Budget projections (2003) 2002/032003/042004/05Total 30%60%100% Personnel Admin Stores Equipment Prof. & Spec Total

Communication strategy A Communication strategy has also been approved by Cabinet and will be implemented –Its aim will be to create awareness about the NLPF –It will also be about creating publicity around multilingualism in general

Conclusion The DAC will work with PanSALB to ensure the implementation of Cabinet’s decision It is hoped that the SA Language Practitioners’ Council Bill will be enacted as a matter of urgency as it will be critical to quality assurance of language services