Cape Town - The National Institute for the Deaf (NID) has called for sign language to be recognised as one of the official languages in South Africa.
Sign language is said to be the fifth most used language in the country. More people use it compared to those who speak languages such as SiSwati, IsiNdebele and TshiVhenda.
The NID said that about four million South Africans had hearing difficulty, while 1.5 million were "profoundly deaf", with 93 percent of the deaf being unemployed.
This was revealed on Tuesday during public hearings on the South African Language Bill hosted by Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture.
Several organisations and individuals were set to add their input into the Bill. These include the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), Law Society of South Africa (LSSA), Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuur Vereniging (ATKV), Vriende van Afrikaans and the FW De Klerk Foundation.
Ernest Kleinschmidt was one of those invited to add his voice to the Bill. He made a compelling appeal for the recognition of sign language. Kleinschmidt is one of the board directors at NID.
"I'm a deaf person. I'm proud of the language I use," he told the house, asking if there were people who did not use sign language in their daily life.
He said people use sign language to express themselves, adding that "without communication, we are all deaf and dumb".
He asked that the Bill be crafted to include sign language as one of the official languages in the country.
The NID said many deaf children suffered both at school and at home as they were not understood.
Committee chairperson Thandile Sunduza said the South African Constitution had to be amended to accommodate the language.
Among others, the Bill seeks to provide for the "regulation and monitoring of the use of official languages by national government for government purposes". It calls for the adoption of language policies by national government departments, national public entities and national enterprises.
It also proposes the identification of at least two official languages that "a national department, national public entity or public enterprise will use for government purposes".
During his submissions, Dr Neville Alexander of Xhosa Africa Network called for government and non-profit organisations to preserve indigenous languages.
"If we are serious about democracy, we should take indigenous languages seriously," he said, indicating that democracy depended on people being able to communicate with each other.
He said government should review the "language dispensation in this country".
"Languages can cause conflict but they can also reconcile people," he said, cautioning that the language debate should not be a racial one.
He said languages such as Afrikaans, IsiZulu and IsiXhosa were equal and called for each province to have a Language Act. Currently, only the Western Cape and Limpopo had legislative pieces governing languages.
