South- African Sign Language will soon be recognised as the country's 12th official language.
The National Assembly (NA) has approved the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill [B1 - 2023] to amend section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
The amendment is to include South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language to promote the rights of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Until now, the South African Constitution provided for 11 official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
The amendment was adopted without opposition.
