Languages, Part 2
PanSALB
PanSALB was established under the SA Constitution, which
says the following:
A Pan South African Language Board established
by national legislation must
(a) promote, and create conditions for, the
development and use of -
(i) all official languages;
(ii) the Khoi, Nama and San languages; and
(iii) sign language; and
(b) promote and ensure respect for -
(i) all languages commonly used by communities in South Africa,
including German, Greek,Gujarati, Hindi, Portuguese, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu; and
(ii) Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and
other languages used for religious purposes in South
Africa.
The 2013-2014 Annual
Performance Plan downloadable from the (now in 2015 practically dead) PanSALB
web site says:
2.4 Programme 4: Languages Services,
Programme Description
This programme is made up of NLBs [National Language Bodies], NLUs
[National Lexicography Units], Language Use services (language in
education, translation, interpreting, and literature included), Research, and Provincial Coordination services.
NLBs are responsible for the implementation of
the languages framework for each of the
official languages including the Khoi and
San languages and sign languages. This would involve authentication and
screening of processes. NLUs
are responsible for the production of lexicographic language products and
service. For example the production of
dictionaries – monolingual to multilingual dictionaries.
Language
use is responsible for the application
of language in the different spheres of life e.g. language in education,
literature, and specialist areas – banking etc. Research is responsible for exploration of information on
languages. Provincial coordination
is responsible for providing secretariat support to Provincial Language
Committees (PLCs) and coordinating language services in the province.
The 2011-2012 Annual Report downloadable from the PanSALB web site has
a statement by Mr. Mxolisi Zwane,
the Caretaker CEO of PanSALB, which includes the following:
PanSALB has been in the spotlight for the
past two or three years for the wrong reasons. As a result concerns were raised
by the Portfolio Committee of Arts & Culture in Parliament, the Ministry of
Arts and Culture and various other concerned stakeholders. Areas of concern
were around the governance of this institution as well as its failure to fulfil its core mandate...
In response to this complaint the Minister of Arts and Culture, the honourable
Mr Paul Mashatile, commissioned an investigation which was conducted by The Resolve
Group, a report of which was delivered to him on 30 March 2012. The findings
of this commission confirmed the concerns that were raised earlier:
•
It was
clear that PanSALB as an organisation, was not fulfilling its legislative
mandate and that while it continues to exist as an organisation and pays the
salaries of its employees and infrastructure costs, it is not fulfilling the
functions for which it was formed, structured and staffed.
•
There were
challenges regarding governance issues in that the entity was not fully
compliant with the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury Regulations and
other legislative requirements.
•
The board
of PanSALB had failed to meet its obligations, both in terms of oversight, fulfilling
its fiduciary duties and ensuring the fulfilment of its functions in terms of
the act.
That being the case the minister dissolved
the PanSALB Board and appointed myself as Caretaker Chief Executive Officer,
the Accounting Officer and with the Accounting Authority mandate. The
responsibility of my position was also to bring about a turnaround strategy
that will enable the organisation to fulfil its mandate while addressing all
governance issues.
I resumed my duties on 15 June 2012, and met
with all staff members at head office to begin the process of intervention
and mapping out the way forward. On 20 June 2012 I appointed a team of
professionals to assist in the organisation review and stabilization process.
Together with the team our focus was to stabilize the organisation, to stop
mismanagement and maladministration, to revive staff morale and to refocus
the organisation in fulfilling its core mandate.
There is a PanSALB History page on
the PanSALB web site, which contains very little actual history, but which
describes in detail, what PanSALB is supposed to do and how it is structured.
The PanSALB History page includes the following:
Lexicography
and Terminology Development
Another of PanSALB's focus areas is that of
lexicography and terminology development. Nine National Lexicography Units were registered in 2001, their task
being to compile monolingual explanatory dictionaries and other products to
help with language development. The Afrikaans, English, isiZulu, and isiXhosa
units have published a number of volumes of their monolingual dictionaries. The
Tshivenda Lexicography Unit, based at the University of Venda, launched the world's
first Tshivenda dictionary in July 2004, and said it expected to publish the
final draft in 2006 or 2007. The lexicography units are based at tertiary
institutions throughout South Africa. Each unit is managed by a board of
directors and registered as a Section 21 (not-for-profit) company, which allows
the unit autonomy to raise funds to carry on its work.
CU Comment
When the CU committed, in August 2012, to deliver a
Languages course, problematising the question of languages in South Africa, we
knew that there was a problem with PanSALB, because after eighteen years since
its establishment in 1995, there was nothing visible to show for its work.
The particular products we were looking for, which we take
to be the sign of a developing language, or of a language which has a chance,
at least, to survive, is what are described in the passage above as monolingual explanatory dictionaries. A
language which does not have such a dictionary is at best marking time. At
worst it is on a slide towards oblivion. We will return to this question with
practical suggestions and historical examples, later in the course.
From the PanSALB web site a year later, in August 2013, it
is apparent that the picture is still very little changed.
There is a candid statement by Mr Mxolisi Zwane, the then
Caretaker CEO, which describes the realisation by the government that PanSALB
was not fulfilling its mandate, and his consequent appointment. Part of this
statement is reproduced above.
The subsequent 2013-2014 Annual Performance Plan is detailed,
and 86 pages long. We are going to concentrate on the tell-tale question of
dictionaries. We find that they are supposed to be produced under PanSALB by
semi-autonomous units, constituted as Section 29 not-for-profit companies,
located in tertiary [educational] institutions. But there are still no “monolingual
explanatory dictionaries” published for any of the indigenous African
languages.
To conclude this introduction on PanSALB, here is a table
showing what was given from the drop-down menu on the Home page for “Languages”,
on 30 August 2013. This is where PanSALB is purporting to explain itself to the
official language groups. Four of them, plus Sign, had nothing in them except
the words “Under Construction”. In August 2014, the picture is substantially
the same, or possibly worse. “Under construction” is the most common thing you
will find on this web site.
It means that PanSALB is not concerned to check that its own
web site is conforming with the rules on language that PanSALB, among other
things, is supposed to police in terms of the Act and the Constitution. This is
really a scandal.
In 2015, all of the pages that were “under construction”
last year are still “under construction”.
NLU
|
Link
|
Zulu
|
|
Xhosa
|
“Under Construction”
|
Afrikaans
|
|
English
|
“Under Construction”
|
Northern Sotho
|
|
Tswana
|
|
Sotho
|
|
Tsonga
|
|
Swati
|
“Under Construction”
|
Venda
|
“Under Construction”
|
Ndebele
|
|
Sign language
|
“Under Construction”
|
