Xipikara na Yindlu ya n'wina yo xiximeka, ndza mi losa enhlikanhini lowu. Nhlangano wa vanhu wu susumeta leswaku Nawumbisi lowu wa ku tirhisiwa ka tindzimi hinkwato ta ximfumo ta Afrika-Dzonga wu pasisiwa leswaku wu va Nawu lowu nga ta tirhisiwa hi tindzawulo hinkwato ta mfumo wa tiko ra hina.
Ku tiyisisa Nawumbisi lowu, ku tumbuluxiwile bodo ya swa tindzimi laha tikweni hi ku landza xiyengentsongo xa (2) xa Nawu wa 59 wa 1995. Bodo ya swa Tindzimi ta Ximfumo ta Afrika-Dzonga i bodo ya nkoka swinene hi ku landza matimu na matshamele ya tiko ra hina ra Afrika-Dzonga.
Swirho swa bodo swi hlawuriwa hi vaakatiko kutani swi thoriwa ximfumo hi Holobye wa Vutshila na Mfuwo ku ringana malembe ya mpimo wo karhi. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Mr D W MAVUNDA: Speaker and the honourable House, I greet you this afternoon. The Congress of the People proposes that the Bill on the use of all South African official languages be passed into an Act that will be used by all national government departments of our country.
In support of this Bill, a language board has been established in terms of subsection (2) of Act 59 of 1995. The Pan-South African Language Board, PanSALB, is a critical board according to the history and the context of our country, South Africa.
Members of the board are elected by the public and then officially appointed by the Minister of Arts and Culture for a certain number of years.]
This Bill, which we anticipate will be adopted by this House, seeks, among other things, to regulate and monitor the use of official languages by national departments for government purposes. Section 6(4) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996 persuades the national and provincial government by legislative and other measures to regulate and monitor the use of official languages. Section 6(2) of the same Constitution recognises the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people. The state must therefore take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages, as the hon Minister has already mentioned.
Section 4(1) of the Use of Official Languages Bill says that every national department, national public entity and national public enterprise must adopt a language policy regarding its use of official languages for government purposes. Subsection 2 states that language policies adopted in terms of subsection 1 must comply with the provisions of section 6(3)(a) of the Constitution, which also states:
The national government and provincial governments may use any particular official languages for the purposes of government, taking into account usage, practicality, expense, regional circumstances and the balance of the needs and preferences of the population as a whole or in the province concerned.
Therefore, the language policy adopted must identify at least three official languages that the national department, national public entity or national public enterprise will use for government purposes. More than that: It must stipulate how official languages will be used, among other things, to effectively communicate with the public, in official notices and government publications, and describe how they will effectively communicate with members of the public whose language of choice is not an official language, as contemplated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, or South African sign language.
I don't want to dwell on what other members and the hon Minister of Arts and Culture have said. However, let me say that during our debate we reached consensus on PanSALB, as I indicated at the beginning of my speech. There was a concern. Section 3(a) of the Pan South African Language Board Amendment Act of 1999 states that the board shall create conditions for the development and for the promotion of the equal use and enjoyment of all the official languages - hence the prescribed powers and functions of the board in terms of section 8 of the very same Act. However, the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture learnt with dismay that the board was highly engaged in a legal battle among themselves instead of discharging the constitutional functions they were appointed for.
What we anticipate here and what we want to see is PanSALB concentrating mainly on its constitutional mandate. Members should be aware that they have a constitutional mandate, which they have to discharge.
This raises a red flag regarding PanSALB's solvency, liquidity and sustainability. More than that - it was disgraceful for the portfolio committee to learn from PanSALB that a lack of sufficient funds to perform their core business function was "their core obstacle" to achieve their constitutional mandate. However, the main obstacle was that the biggest chunk of their budget was directed to court cases and the legal battle among themselves, which I have already alluded to.
As the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture, after consideration of so many of the problems with PanSALB, we therefore reached unanimous consensus to persuade and support the hon Minister of Arts and Culture to exercise his powers in terms of section 5(a) of the Pan South African Language Board Act of 1995, which provided that the Minister concerned may dissolve the board on any reasonable grounds, relying on the findings of a report by the dissolved group as the basis for the possible decision to dissolve it.
Nkulukumba Xipikara na Yindlu ya n'wina leyo xiximeka, xiyengentsongo xa swa tindzimi xa ndzawulo ya le xikarhi xi kumile nkavelo wa R16 wa timiliyoni eka lembeximali ra 2012-2013. Ku na nkayivelo eka nkavelo lowu. Nkavelo wu tsandzekisa bodo ku fikelela swilaveko na migingiriko ya xiyengentsongo lexi. Hikokwalaho hi kombela leswaku ndzawulo yi tekela mhaka leyi enhlokweni.
Hikwalaho ka nkayivelo lowu va tsandzeka ku khoma nhlengeletano hambi yi ri yin'we elembeni. A va fanele ku hlangana ka mune eka lembeximali rin'we ku fikelela na ku humelerisa migingiriko ya vona. Leswi swa va tsandza hikokwalaho ka nkayivelo wa mali.
Ta namuntlha ndzi ti heta kwala. Inkomu. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Hon Speaker and the honourable House, the language unit of the national government got an allocation of R16 million in the 2012-13 financial year. There is a shortage in this allocation. The allocation fails the board in the achievement of the objectives and activities of this unit. For this reason, we request that the Ministry takes cognisance of this.
Because of the shortage, they are unable to convene even a single meeting in a year. They were supposed to meet four times in one financial year in order to achieve and actualise their activities. They are unable to do this due to a shortage of funds.
I end here for today. I thank you.]