13 December 2006

INFORMATION SERVICES RESEARCH

THE PAN- SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE BOARD'S (PANSALB) INTERACTION WITH THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ARTS AND CULTURE

Introduction

The establishment of institutions independent of Government is part of an international trend to develop additional mechanisms for promoting accountable governance, increasing the participation of people in democratic Government, and ensuring that constitutional commitments are met.

The six institutions established in terms of Chapter 9 of the Constitution are directly protected by the Constitution. The Constitution sets out appointment and dismissal mechanisms for members and spells out their relationship to other organs of State. The President, on the recommendation of the National Assembly, appoints officials of these institutions. In the case of the Public, Protector and the Auditor-General, the nomination must be approved by a resolution supported by 60% of the Assembly's members. Removal from the office must also be supported by a special resolution. In the case of the Public Protector and Auditor-General, the support of two thirds of the Assembly's members is required.

About Pansalb

A statutory body, Pansalb was established in terms of the Pan South African Language Board Act, Act 59 of 1995 with a view to create conditions for the development and the promotion of the equal use and enjoyment of all of South Africa's official languages. The objects of Pansalb as provided for in the Pansalb Act (as amended) are to provide for the recognition, implementation and furtherance of multilingualism in the Republic of South Africa. In terms of section 3(e) the Board has the responsibility of promoting respect for multilingualism in general.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 'of 1996, determines that the following two agencies are responsible for giving effect to the language provisions: Government and Pansalb. Government is charged at national and provincial levels to regulate and monitor their use of official languages, while Pansalb is charged with the more proactive tasks of promoting and creating conditions for the development and use of the official languages, the Khoe, Nama and San languages as well as South African Sign Language. Pansalb is also tasked with promoting and ensuring respect for the heritage languages.

Chapter 9 of the Constitution refers to the following six state institutions which are expected to strengthen constitutional democracy in South Africa:

1. The Public Protector.

2. The Human Rights' Commission.

3. The' Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.

4. The Commission for Gender Equality.

5. The Auditor-General.

6. The Electoral Commission.

The Constitution provides that Chapter 9 institutions are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law. In terms of section 181 (2) of the Constitution, such institutions are empowered to act impartially and without fear, favour or prejudice. No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of these institutions (subsection 4), and Chapter 9 institutions are accountable to the National Assembly (subsection 5).

Pansalb is not listed amongst the Chapter 9 institutions, as the issue of language was perceived to be so fundamentally important to human rights that it was addressed in the Founding Provisions of the Constitution. Similarly, section 4 of the Pansalb Act, Act 59 of 1995, sets out Pansalb's independence and impartiality, and also provides that no organ of state or any other person may interfere with the Board or its staff in the carrying out of the Board's functions and mandate. Despite Pansalb's independence, in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Act 1 of 1999, Pansalb is regarded as a constitutional body, and section 40(1 )(e) of the PFMA refers to the reporting obligations by the accounting officer of a constitutional institution to Parliament. In terms of section 65 of the PFMA, read with section 40(1 )(d) or 55(1 )(d) of the same Act, Pansalb must Table in the National Assembly or a provincial legislature its annual report and financial statements.

An overview of Pansalb's role in furthering constitutional democracy

As already stated, in furthering South Africa as a constitutional democracy, a specific focal area of Pansalb .is to ensure the effective development and promotion of South Africa's 11 official languages, in terms of section 6 of the Constitution, including the Khoe, Nama and San languages and South African Sign Language. In addition, section 6(5)(b)(i) and (ii) of the Constitution determines that languages used for religious purposes in South Africa, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and other languages, has to be promoted and respected. Arguably, Pansalb has a major role to play in the aforementioned constitutional imperatives. In order to give effect to this, Pansalb organised itself into Provincial Language Committees (PLCs), .National Language Bodies (NLBs) and National Lexicography Units (NLUs).

A synopsis of Pansalb's reported challenges and focal areas is provided in order to indicate to what extent Pansalb is meeting its constitutional mandate.

1. The spelling and orthography rules for the African languages have been updated and printed and are currently available in booklet form.

2. South Africans appear not be sufficiently aware of the linguistic human rights, and Pansalb is currently focusing on this important shortcoming.

3. Pansalb has commissioned a study into the apparent lack of interest in African languages

4. Pansalb's promotion of African languages is not done in isolation; it is partnering with the national Education cluster, which is participating in various campaigns to highlight career options for those with African languages qualifications.

5. The Language in Education programme focuses on the establishment and maintenance of strategic partnerships and networks with the national and provincial departments of education, the creation of a climate conducive to the successful implementation of the Language in Education and the Higher Education Policies in the provinces, the identification of strategic projects for the development of marginalised languages, the creation of a climate conducive to the advancement of the Language in Education Policy and multilingualism in education and the identification of mechanisms to promote all languages in education.

6. Pansalb's nine PLCs assist with the implementation and promotion of multilingualism in South Africa, and Pansalb reported that new PLC members are to be trained on monitoring language policy implementation during its review period.

7. The objective of Pansalb's Status Language Planning initiative is to provide Pansalb with advice at local, provincial and national levels on language formulation, policy and practice.

8. Pansalb's translation and interpreting initiative focuses on skills development in translation and interpreting, the celebration of International Translation Day, monitoring of the use of translation and interpreting facilities and providing technical support to provincial language committees.

9. The focal area of Pansalb's Linguistic Human Rights and Mediation initiative is, amongst other things, to facilitate investigations of human rights violations and to publish findings by the Hearing Committee.

Conclusion

The ad hoc committee which has been established by Parliament to review State institutions supporting constitutional democracy started consultation with Chapter 9 institutions, partly in order to determine to what extent parliamentary committees have interacted with these institutions and to gauge the oversight role of parliamentary committees. During the review period Pansalb presented its 2005/06 annual report to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture. The researcher was not able to determine any further interaction between Pansalb and portfolio committee. As indicated above, it .should be emphasised that Pansalb is not Chapter 9 institution which may impact on the ad hoc committee's approach to Pansalb. It is recommended that the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture, in fulfilling its oversight function, engages more actively with Pansalb.

Similarly, the researcher is not in a position to determine whether Pansalb's reported activities and focal areas, in promoting multilingualism in South Africa, are successful. While some of the reported activities have been completed, many of Pansalb's initiatives are of an ongoing nature.

Sources

· Parliamentary Research Unit, The Role of Parliament in the Progressive Realisation of Constitutional Rights in South Africa, May 2006.

· Pansalb Annual Report 2005/06: Fostering Multilingualism in the 21^st Century.

· Pansalb, on www.pansalb.orq.za