SA Sign Language Soon To Be 12th Official Language!
South African Sign Language (SASL) will soon become South Africa’s 12th official language.
This has been a long road that started with Parliament being addressed by the Deaf Federation of South Africa in 2007. In 2017 the Constitutional Review Committee recommended that the constitution be amended to include SASL as one of the official languages.
This year, President Ramaphosa approved the 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill, and on the 20th of July 2022, the Government Gazette issued a notice that calls for public comment on the amendment that will make SASL an official language.
National Institute for the Deaf’s Andries van Niekerk says, “This would mean that services and information that must be available in the official languages will now be available in SASL including the learner license test you have to write.”
Source: Goodthingsguy.com