Today the Western Cape Minister for Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais, officially welcomed the newly appointed Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC) to the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS).
Back row from left to right: Johan Koopman, Andries van Niekerk, Dr Niel le Roux and Sivuyile Mazantsi.
Front row from left to right: Laurian Lesch, Stephanie Lotz (Deputy Chairperson), Prof Monwabisi Ralarala (Chairperson), Willem Fransman and Isabeau Botha
The WCLC was established by the Western Cape Provincial Languages Act, 1998 and the Committee was listed as a Schedule 3, part C provincial public entity on 1 June 2001 in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999.
The Committee will be monitoring the use of language in the Western Cape Government and will also be making recommendations on policy and language related matters to Minister Marais, the Provincial Parliament and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).
According to Quintus van der Merwe, Head of Western Cape Language Services the new committee is truly representative of the languages of the Western Cape. “I look forward to working with them to implement multilingualism”, he said.
Brent Walters, Head of DCAS, welcomed the new members at their induction meeting and stressed the work of the Committee as “critical because language can unite people”.
Minister Marais proudly affirmed that the Western Cape has been the leading province in implementing a Language Policy in Government. “It is also clear that language rights are an important and controversial aspect in the current climate of transformation, especially in higher education. “Therefore, it is pivotal that the WCLC proactively advises on these matters and continue monitoring the implementation of the Language Policy in all the provincial departments”, she says.
