APA-Cape Town (South Africa) The South African Sign Language (SASL) has been approved as the country’s 12th official language following an amendment to the constitution on Wednesday.
A hybrid session of the National Assembly approved a report by the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Constitution’s 18th Amendment Bill to amend Section 6 of the country’s 1996 Constitution.
The amendment was adopted without opposition in the House, according to Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
“The adoption of this constitutional amendment will bring to 12 the number of official languages in South Africa once the president signs the bill into law,” Mothapo said.
Until now, the South African Constitution has provided for 11 official languages, which are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sepedi, Sesotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, Venda and Zulu.
Primarily, the amendment seeks to advance the acceptance of SASL as part of the deaf culture to ensure the realisation of the rights of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing to equal protection and benefit of the law and human dignity, Mothapo said.
NM/jn/APA