The following item from the South African paper, The Times, was seen
at http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=707289
Zuma wants pledge in different tongues
By Michael Hamlyn, I-Net Bridge Published:Feb 15, 2008
ANC president Jacob Zuma has called for the new schools pledge drawn
up by the education department to be recited in the different
languages of the country depending on the region.
He pointed out that Thursday February 21 is International Mother
Language Day.
Writing in the online newsletter 'ANC Today', Zuma said on Friday that
the country's print media too, should ideally be available in more
languages, not just English and Afrikaans. "It is a pity that a
newspaper such as Imvo Zabantsundu was closed down," he said. "Other
than its rich history, it would be playing a critical role of
promoting mainstream reading and interaction in the isiXhosa language.
"KwaZulu-Natal appears to be the only province with a flourishing
mother tongue media, with successful commercial titles such as
UMAFRIKA, Ilanga and Isolezwe as well as several community papers in
isiZulu."
He said the formula needed to be copied in other provinces. "Here is a
challenge to our current and budding media owners!" he said. "The
market clearly exists, given the success of the existing publications."
Noting that this year's celebration of language day is special because
the United Nations general assembly has proclaimed 2008 as the
International Year of Languages, under the theme "Languages Matter!",
Zuma urged a renewed effort at all levels to promote multilingualism
and the development of all official languages, including the South
African sign language and the languages referred to in the South
African constitution.
In addition to the 11 official languages the constitution seeks the
development of the Khoi, Nama and San languages, and sign language. It
wants to promote and ensure respect for all languages commonly used by
communities in SA, including German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi,
Portuguese, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu, as well as languages used for
religious purposes such as Arabic, Hebrew and Sanskrit. It does not
mention Latin in this context.
The ANC president said that government or Parliament should promote
the right to diversity. Cabinet recently instructed all government
departments to establish language units, so that information they
produce can be made available to citizens in their mother tongues.
"We trust that departments are taking this executive directive
seriously," Zuma said. "Mass communication that is not done in all 11
languages cannot serve the purpose of adequately communicating to all
South Africans."
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