THE PAN SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE BOARD (PanSALB) COMMENDS NCCC FOR UNDERTAKING TO ADDRESS THE LANGUAGE ISSUE IN ITS VACCINNE ROLL-OUT STRATEGY

PRESS STATEMENT    

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    

31 MAY 2021, PRETORIA

 

THE PAN SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE BOARD (PanSALB) COMMENDS NCCC FOR UNDERTAKING TO ADDRESS THE LANGUAGE ISSUE IN ITS VACCINNE ROLL-OUT STRATEGY 

 Following the address by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 30 May 2021, the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) has commended the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) for its decision to review its approach to the vaccine roll-out. During his address, President Ramaphosa, underscored the difficulties that senior citizens experienced whilst using the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS), such as lack of access to the internet, mobile phone and language barrier as the system instructions are in English.

PanSALB has reiterated its position for government’s consideration of the country’s populace and their linguistic needs and has commended government for undertaking to address these issues to support the elderly and non-English speakers during this process.

“As PanSALB we are encouraged that our continued calls for the use of languages that are relatable to our people are being considered by government in its vaccine roll-out strategy, to ensure that the public understands and is responsive to the messages of government. We are hopeful that this undertaking to address the language question in this regard will lead to the implementation of lasting solutions that fully embrace and caters to our linguistically diverse nation even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic” said PanSALB Acting CEO, Mr Xolisa Tshongolo. He further added that government needed to inculcate the values of multilingualism in all its systems to be fully representative of the linguistic landscape of the country.

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