ANC members of Parliament's Arts and Culture Portfolio Committee yesterday voted against a Democratic Alliance (DA) proposal that sought to make the Use of Official Languages Bill more inclusive.

It is clear that our country needs new legislation to give effect to the constitutional imperative to promote and protect our languages. But, as it stands, the Bill does little to create the conditions necessary for the equitable treatment of all our official languages.

The Bill requires that government departments use at least three languages for official communication purposes, with two of these being "indigenous languages of historically diminished use and status."

Firstly, this means that a situation could arise where languages that are widely spoken by residents in a province could be excluded. In other words, the Bill fails to give due consideration to the regional relevance of languages.

Secondly, forcing government departments to choose between languages will inevitably diminish the status of the language that is not chosen. We believe that this is in contravention of section 6(4)(2) of the Constitution which stipulates that "all official languages must enjoy parity of esteem and must be treated equitably."

The DA will oppose this Bill on these grounds.

It is essential that we do everything possible to ensure that the languages of all South Africans are promoted and protected. However, the Bill in its current form will hamper the equitable treatment of all languages, rather than encourage it.

Statement issued by Niekie van den Berg MP, DA Shadow Minister of Arts & Culture, March 1 2012

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