Acts Online
GT Shield

Use of Official Languages Act, 2012 (Act No. 12 of 2012)

Notices

DWS Language Policy

6. Official languages of the Department

 

6.1 The Constitution promotes the use of all eleven official languages in line with its mandate as explained above. However, owing to financial constraints, the department’s language policy will focus on functional multilingualism by striking a balance between financial considerations and the need to ensure effective communication with members of the public.

 

6.2 The department uses English as its operating language. Thus internal correspondence will be in English. Efforts will be made to ensure that externally focused communication will accommodate other languages depending on the availability of funds.

 

6.3 The Department has, in addition to English as its language of business, identified six (6) other languages based on either their frequency of use in South African homes, or according to special needs of a particular language group. These languages are: isiZulu, Sepedi, Xitsonga, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and Braille. Because the policy now is undergoing a review, a decision to add Setswana on a list of languages adopted by the Department has consciously been made, which will make this language the seventh language adopted. All seven (7) languages will be used as languages of communication when communicating with members of the public. The Department will further endeavour to facilitate communication in other official languages depending on the practicality and effectiveness of doing so.

 

6.4 Provincial and practicality requirements will still apply in influencing languages to use in a particular area, e.g. Public Participation Programmes (Izimbizos) and other provincial proceedings will be conducted in the dominant language of a particular province depending on the target audience, feasibility and cost effectiveness.

 

6.5 In the light of the motivation made above, the Department of Water and Sanitation thus adopts the following languages (in no preferential order):

 

6.5.1 English
6.5.2 isiZulu
6.5.3 Sepedi
6.5.4 Xitsonga
6.5.5 isiXhosa
6.5.6 Afrikaans
6.5.7 Braille

 

6.6 The following factors were taken into account in arriving at the choice of official language(s) DWS will use in each context/situation:

 

6.6.1 Practicality,
6.6.2 Expense,
6.6.3 Regional circumstance,
6.6.4 The needs and preferences of the public,
6.6.5 Section 6(2) of the Constitution, which mandates government departments to take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of indigenous languages.