Arts minister sacks board Mthethwa says a new PanSALB needs to start afresh as it navigates our language challenges TNA Reporter, The New Age, Johannesburg, 18 September 2016 THE Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture says it has long called for drastic measures to be taken against the Pan South African Languages Board (PanSALB) to ensure it delivers on its mandate. Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa recently dissolved the 13 member board citing there was no common understanding between the department and the board as to what its strategic role of the board should be. Mthethwa with the concurrence of the National Treasury has appointed of the National Heritage Council (NHC) as the accounting authority for PanSALB in order to ensure the development of a turnaround strategy and its implementation without delay. Committee chairperson Xoliswa Tom said the development and promotion of all South African languages aimed at promoting multilingualism has long been held at ransom by the challenges faced at the institution. "The committee is hopeful that the action by the minister represents a renewal for the institution, and that a strong foundation will be laid to ensure that the institution does not face a repeat of such challenges in the future. The committee remains convinced the institution has a meaningful role to play in promoting all South African languages. "This is because languages symbolise a country's identity and heritage, which must be preserved for future generations," Tom said. The committee said a more detailed analysis of the systemic challenges must be undertaken to ensure they are permanently resolved. "The department's monitoring and evaluation section must keep a close eye on the institution to ensure that the money allocated to the institution was directed at programmes aimed at promoting South African languages," Tom said. Dissolving the board, Mthethwa said the understanding of the board of its role and mandate was inconsistent with the legislative mandate provided by the Acts. "The board had difficulties in understanding or aligning to the frameworks governing the relationship between the executive authority and the board which impacted on the budget vote. The board did not act prudently with regard to employer-employee relations, which made PanSALB vulnerable to legal claims and compliance requirements with certain statutory obligations. "No sufficient leadership was demonstrated by the board throughout its term, despite certain interventions from the department and the portfolio committee," Mthethwa said. The minister said the board had difficulties in fulfilling its objects as such as the creation of conditions for the preservation, development, promotion and respect for official and other languages in South Africa. "I have dissolved the board of PanSALB with immediate effect. The development of our languages and the promotion of multilingualism in South Africa needs to be accelerated. "The year 2016 must produce tangible results. Let us start on a clean slate and act decisively on challenges affecting PanSALB," Mthethwa said. - 701933 From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
