The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) says efforts to integrate African languages into South African society are underway, despite criticism over the pace of progress.
The board was responding to concerns raised by Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, who questioned the slow implementation of language integration.
Speaking at a National Language Summit in Cape Town, PanSALB said initiatives are being rolled out across sectors, including business and education.
PanSALB Board Chairperson Lolie Makhubu-Badenhorst says progress may be gradual, but it is steady.
Makhubu-Badenhorst says, “We are doing it, be it in business, be it in academia. For instance, Absa: if I’m withdrawing my money, I am getting it ngesiZulu. If I am going to the universities, the government has invested and ringfenced money for us, some universities have already started teaching in their mother tongue, we are moving slowly but surely. And South African Sign Language, it is now one of the 12 official languages. We are moving.”
–SABC/ChannelAfrica–
