North-West University (NWU) academic Prof Moses Phooko has lauded the National Assembly’s approval of South African Sign Language as the 12th official language on 2 May 2023.

The South African Constitution previously provided for 11 official languages, which include Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.

The adoption of this amendment brings the number of official languages in South Africa to 12, once the President signs the Bill into law.

Prof Phooko says the recent approval of Sign Language to accommodate the plight of people who are deaf and others with extreme hearing challenges is a progressive step towards ensuring that every citizen enjoys the rights contained in the Constitution.

“Unfortunately, it took 30 years for South Africa to officially recognise Sign Language since the adoption of the then Interim Constitution in 1993, which eventually paved the way for the 1996 Constitution.

“The lack of representation of various minority groups in strategic positions, be it within the communities that they live in or in government, appears to be one of the factors that make these groups of people not have their voices equally heard,” says Prof Phooko.

“There is no doubt that Sign Language has been part of South African languages since time immemorial. The same could be said with the Khoisan language. It remains to be seen when the Khoisan community will also have their language officially recognised as their cry has so far not yielded any positive results,” he adds.

Prof Phooko says the Constitution is an inspirational document, and it can only become a reality when it has a positive impact on the lives of ordinary people.

“Therefore, it is hoped that this development will go a long way in paving the way for many other languages that are not officially recognised.”

Prof Moses Phooko.