CAPE TOWN - Sign language could soon become South Africa’s 12th official language as recommended by Parliament’s constitutional review committee, the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) said on Thursday.
”The committee is recommending that section 6 (1) and (5) (a) be amended to include South African Sign Laguage (SASL) as an official language. The committee accepted that the issue of addressing the proposal for declaring SASL as an official language was long overdue.
"It is expected the necessary formalities should be made by Parliament to ensure the amendment of the constitution to accommodate this,” said chief executive Rakwena Monareng.
"This is a positive response, not only to the deaf communities, but to the country, particularly to those who wish to study sign language.”