South Africa has on Wednesday signed the Sign Language Bill into law, officially recognising the use of signs as a means of communication.
The rainbow nation becomes the fourth country in Africa to recognise sign language as an official means of communication, after Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The bill signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa makes sign language the country’s 12th official language.
“South African Sign Language is the primary language of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. We must respect it as a language of choice in all interactions,” the Presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.
While the official number persons with hearing impairment may be higher, there are at least 400,000 South Africans who use sign language.
“By making sign language official, we aim to advance their rights to substantive equality, dignity and also their social inclusion. To empower people to use their language is to affirm their humanity,” President Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa ratified the Sign Language Bill into law at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, Gauteng Province.
“This official recognition of sign language follows an intensive and extensive public consultation process,” he added.
South Africa’s other official languages are English, Afrikaans, Pedi, Sotho, Southern Ndebele, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
“Official recognition of sign language is just the beginning, much more work still needs to be done to support this language. It has to be standardised to collapse various geographical dialects into one standard official version,” said Ramaphosa.