THE National Assembly has approved the report of the portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development to amend the Constitution to include South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language. South Africa has 11 official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
The adoption of this constitutional amendment on Tuesday will bring to 12 the number of official languages in the country once President Cyril Ramaphosa signs the bill into law. There has been a push over the years for sign language to become an official language.
In 2017, Parliament resolved the matter after its Constitutional Review Committee processed submissions made in 2015. Submissions were received in 2015 from Deaf South Africa, among others, saying while sign language was well recognised in…