South African Sign Language is now country’s 12th official language
South African Sign Language is now the country’s 12th official language.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the South African Sign Language Bill into law during a ceremony on July 19.
The South African Parliament passed a bill to amend the South African Constitution to add SASL as the 12th official language on May 2, and now it is officially amended.
Here is a clip of the signing ceremony and you will see Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, a deaf member of parliament in it. You also will see Bruno Druchen, who is the executive director for DeafSA, teaching the president some signs. Jabulani Blose, who is the CEO of the South African National Deaf Association, was also present.
[Clip of signing ceremony] Credit: Twitter/@CyrilRamaphosa
Very nice. President Ramaphosa said in his speech, “To empower people to use their language is to affirm their humanity.”
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To review why SASL recognition is important to deaf South Africans, here is a clip from an interview I had with Wilma that we posted last month.
[Clip]
Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen: Many universities require knowledge of two official languages for admission. Some universities accept deaf students, yes, but some universities turn them away because they only know one official language — or they don’t have a second. Sometimes SASL is the second language, but it is not accepted by the university. So now they don’t have any more excuses. They have to admit deaf people with both languages — English or Afrikaans or Zulu or Xhosa — and SASL. No excuses. So, this (bill) will help us, absolutely. Some institutions or private practices refuse to hire an Interpreter. So we can show the amendment and say it’s an official language now.
Congratulations to South Africa and the South African deaf community on getting SASL recognized as an official language in the country’s constitution.
https://twitter.com/CyrilRamaphosa/status/1681653293062258689