Johannesburg - South African Sign Language (SASL) is now the twelfth official language of the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the South African Sign Language Bill during a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. He said that SASL had served as an effective communication tool for citizens living with disabilities, and this step would further empower that community.
"By making sign language official, we will be joining three other countries on our continent. We are very proud to join that group of countries that have advanced to the level of recognising sign language as an official language," he said.
Bruno Druchen, the national director of DeafSA, indicated how emotional the day was for him. He said that deaf people had had barriers for many years as their language wasn't recognised, and that they continued to have barriers to communicating and accessing information.
"Deaf people continue to have barriers to health, education in mainstream universities, and basic services in court. Deaf people continue to have barriers," he said.
Druchen said that experiencing the barriers, they still did not have the freedom to participate in public life, but that deaf people in all nine provinces had started the journey in 2007 to make this day a reality.
"This is a historic moment for deaf and hard of hearing people today; it is going to change deaf people's lives," he said.
CEO of the South African National Deaf Association (Sanda), Janulani Blose, said in sign language that he couldn't believe that today’s events had happened after such a long journey.
"Thank you to the people who started this journey that is concluding today. This achievement today belongs to them; today a deaf person is born again. Long live our vibrant democracy," he said.
The Pan South African Language Board (PanSalb) said that this was a significant milestone for our constitutional democracy, which guaranteed in its founding provisions human dignity, equality, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms.
PanSalb CEO Lance Schultz said that a holistic view of implementing SASL as an official language was necessary for the bill to have a meaningful impact on the lives of the deaf community.
"PanSalb published the SASL Charter on September 4, 2020, which contains nine key pledges that should serve as a framework to promote the fair and courteous treatment of the deaf, and should be adopted by all spheres of government and civil society," said Schultz.
The Star