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Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture : 1 September 2015

STATUS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE USE OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT, 2012 (ACT NO. 12 OF 2012). Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture : 1 September 2015. STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION. 1. Constitutional context 2. Objects of the Act 3. Application of the Act

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Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture : 1 September 2015

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  1. STATUS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE USE OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT, 2012 (ACT NO. 12 OF 2012) Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture : 1 September 2015

  2. STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION 1. Constitutional context 2. Objects of the Act 3. Application of the Act 4. Promulgation of the Act 5. Support and reminders to national departments, national public entities and enterprises before 2 November 2014 6. Extension of the due date to 2 May 2015 7. Support and reminders to national departments, national public entities and enterprises before the second deadline 8. Progress summary 8.1 National departments 8.2 National public entities & enterprises

  3. STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION (cont.) 9. Status report as of august 2015: National government departments National public entities and enterprises 10. Challenges 11. Recommendations

  4. 1. CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT • Section 6 of the Constitution, 1996 regulates languages • Section 6(1) identifies eleven official languages of the Republic • In recognition of the historically diminished use and status of indigenous languages, section 6(2) obliges the state to take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of indigenous languages • Section 6(3)(a) provides that national government and each of the provincial governments may use any official languages for the purposes of government, provided that at least two official languages must be used

  5. CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT (cont.) • Section 6(3)(a) sets out the various factors that government must take into account when determining which particular official languages to use for the purposes of government. These are: • usage • practicality • expense • regional circumstances, and • the balance of the needs and preferences of the population as a whole or in the province concerned

  6. CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT (cont.) • Section 6(4) obliges the national and provincial governments to regulate and monitor their use of official languages by legislative and other measures • It is clear from section 6(4) that: • it is government’s use of official languages that must be regulated and monitored, as opposed to use of official languages by the public in general or the private sector; and • legislative and other measures must be used by government to regulate and monitor its use of official languages • It is in the context of the constitutional obligation to use legislative measures to regulate and monitor use of official languages, that the Use of Official Languages Act, 2012 was promulgated

  7. CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT (cont.) • Section 6(4) also provides that, without detracting from the provisions of section 6(2), all official languages must enjoy parity of esteem and must be treated equitably • “Equitable” treatment is not the same as “equal” treatment. Equitable treatment is treatment that is just and fair in the circumstances • The obligation to treat all official languages with “parity of esteem” requires that all official languages should be accorded equal respect • Section 6(5) requires the establishment of a Pan South African Language Board through national legislation to promote and create conditions for the development and use of national languages and promote and ensure respect for defined languages

  8. 2. OBJECTS OF THE USE OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT • Objects of the Act in section 2 are as follows: • to regulate and monitor the use of official languages for government purposes by national government • to promote parity of esteem and equitable treatment of official languages of the Republic • to facilitate equitable access to services and information of national government, and • to promote good language management by national government for efficient public service administration and to meet the needs of the public

  9. 3. APPLICATION OF THE ACT • The Use of Official Languages Act applies to the national government, comprising: • national departments • national public entities, and • national public enterprises • The Act establishes a legislative framework for the national government to regulate and monitor its use of official languages

  10. 4. PROMULGATION OF THE ACT • The Act was assented by the President of the Republic of South Africa on 1 October 2012 • The Act was proclaimed effective by the President on 2 May 2013 • The deadline for implementing the Act was 2 November 2014

  11. 5. SUPPORT BY THE DAC BEFORE 2 NOVEMBER 2014 • 4 September 2013: The Department of Arts & Culture (DAC) conducted a technical workshop with national government departments, national public entities and national public enterprises whereby the legislative framework and their responsibilities were outlined and explained as prescribed in the Act • 26-27 June 2014: Subsequent to the technical workshop, DACorganised workshops on the Act, and stakeholders reported implementation progress • 14 August 2014: The DAC sent a notice through Department of Communications to remind institutions about the due date of adopting their language policies and establishment of language units

  12. SUPPORT BY DAC BEFORE 2 NOVEMBER 2014 (cont.) • 12 September 2014: DAC sent a notice through Mail & Guardian requesting DGs and CEOs/Heads of all national government departments, national public entities and national public enterprises to report to DAC by 30 September 2014 on the progress made by their institutions on the implementation of the Act • 14 September 2014: DAC sent 1the same notice through Sunday Times and CityPress requesting DGs and CEOs/Heads of all national government departments, national public entities and national public enterprises to report to DAC by 30 September 2014 on the progress made by their institutions on the implementation of the Act

  13. 6. EXTENSION OF THE DUE DATE TO MAY 2015 • The Minister of Arts & Culture extended the due date to 2 May 2015 with the following conditions: • a status report on progress with regard to the implementation of the Act was received by 30 January 2015; • all language policies, drafted in such a way that they are appropriate to the context and operations of national government departments and their national public entities and enterprises, were gazetted for public comment by 31 March 2015; • all language policies were adopted by 2 May 2015.

  14. 7. SUPPORT AND REMINDERS BEFORE THE SECOND DEADLINE • Due low response rates to the Ministers’ call to national government departments, national public entities and enterprises to report on 30 January 2015, the DAC convened three workshops in February 2015 to follow up on the implementation of the Act. • The following workshops were convened on: • 19 February 2015 for national public entities; • 24 February 2015 for national public enterprises; and • 27 February 2015 for national government departments All national departments, national public entities and enterprises present provided progress reports

  15. SUPPORT BY DAC BEFORE THE SECOND DEADLINE (cont.) • March 2015: Minister sent letters to other departments’ Ministers reminding them to gazette policies by 31 March 2015 in order to provide the public enough time to comment before the due date - 2 May 2015 • April 2015: Letters were sent to all Directors-General requesting them to submit status reports after deadline of 2 May 2015. • Unfortunately, only few national government departments and their national public entities and enterprises responded to these reminders.

  16. 8. PROGRESS SUMMARY 8.1 National departments 15 have gazetted their language policies 10 have draft policies 13 Language units 8.2 National public entities & enterprises 30 gazetted their policies 11 have draft language policies 13 have applied for exemption from establishing language units 8 have language units

  17. 9. STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015 : 9.1 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  18. STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015 : NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  19. STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015 : NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  20. STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015 : NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  21. STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015 : NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  22. STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015 : NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  23. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  24. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  25. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  26. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  27. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  28. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  29. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  30. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  31. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  32. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  33. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  34. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  35. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  36. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  37. 9.2 STATUS REPORT AS OF AUGUST 2015: NATIONAL PUBLIC ENTITIES AND ENTERPRISES

  38. 10. Challenges Most departments, entities and enterprises report: • Inadequate resources • Lack of support within departments 11. Recommendations • PanSALB to do oversight on the implementation of the Act by all national government departments, national public entities and national public enterprises. • Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture to encourage and support non-complying departments to comply with the Act • DAC to continue sending notices/reminders to non-complying departments, national public enterprises and public entities • DAC to continue reporting on implementation as part of Outcome 14 reports to Cabinet

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