Cultural Affairs and Sport
With regard to sign language and persons with disabilities:
(1) (a) What programmes or projects does her Department have in place to support the development and the use of sign language in the province and (b) how much money has her Department spent on promoting sign language in the (i) 2019/20 and (ii) 2020/21 financial years;
(2) whether her Department has programmes and/or projects that support initiatives and clubs offering sports for persons with disabilities in the province, particularly in the rural and disadvantaged areas; if so, how much funding is her Department giving to these initiatives and clubs?
The Department actively promotes the use of and development of South African Sign Language (SASL). During the 2019/20 financial year the following projects were run by the Department:
1. A Youth Dialogue was held in collaboration with the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC), University of the Western Cape (UWC), the Swahili Language Board, Department of Sport Arts and Culture (DSAC), Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and the Castle of Good Hope with the theme “Role of indigenous languages in shaping the future of the African Continent”. Stakeholders from the deaf community were invited and participated at the event.
The Department further developed and circulated a poster to promote the importance of mother language use and SASL, which was distributed to all public libraries and other relevant government institutions to display.
The Department procured SASL playing cards from the National Institute of the Deaf in 2019 and 2020 and distributed them to various institutions and participants at programmatic events. The playing cards are good educational tools to help promote SASL but also assist the general public to learn at least 54 basic SA Sign Language signs, enabling them to start basic communication with the Deaf. The signs are displayed in colourful illustrations, as well as displaying English, Afrikaans, IsiXhosa and IsiZulu words. The total cost for 1500 playing cards amounted to R75 000.
The Department celebrated International Mother Language Day on 21 and 22 February 2020. This event was held in collaboration with the WCLC, PanSALB, UWC, Swahili Language Board, DSAC, The Centre for the Book and Iziko Museums of South Africa, with the theme “Indigenous languages matter for development, peacebuilding and reconciliation”. Stakeholders from the deaf community were invited and participated at the event.
During the 2020/21 financial year the following projects were run by the Department to support and develop the use of SA Sign Language:
The Department collaborated with the PanSALB to celebrate International Translation Day on 30 September with the theme “Finding the words in a world of crisis”. The aim of the project was to celebrate language practitioners and other practitioners in the language fraternity and acknowledge what they are doing to contribute to the promotion of multilingualism and for advancing languages, language professions and careers. A booklet was developed with messages from various language practitioners working in the Western Cape Government and also included a message from Ms Atta Humphries, a deaf member of the WCLC, to promote the importance of SA Sign Language. The booklet was circulated on all DCAS virtual media platforms.
Due to the restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic only virtual programmes could be held. The Department celebrated International Mother Language Day on 22 February in collaboration with the WCLC, UWC, PanSALB, National Library, South African Centre for the Book, Swahili Language Board, SupuSupu Khoi Language Project, Iziko Museums of South Afrika and the Indigenous Language Action Forum. The theme of the event was “Safeguarding of linguistic diversity and multilingualism”. Discourse focused around promoting multilingualism and multiculturalism, encouraging and creating awareness of the usage and preservation of our rich and diverse linguistic and cultural heritage across the world. Stakeholders from the deaf community were invited and Mr Jabaar Mohamed, Provincial Director for DeafSA gave a presentation to promote awareness of the challenges faced by the deaf community and practical tips on how these could be mitigated.
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport provides South African Sign Language (SASL) Services for all important live government communications such as addresses in the Provincial Parliament, press briefings and regular information session for citizens held by the Premier and any other official celebrations.
The Department also facilitates SASL interpreters for provincial departmental training sessions, job interviews and webinars in order to include deaf citizens and to cater for them in all these activities.
The Department provides Sign Language interpreters for all WCLC meetings and events to make it possible for Ms Humphries to give her input regarding the advocacy of SA Sign language.
(1) (b) how much money has her Department spent on promoting sign language in the (i) 2019/20 and (ii) 2020/21 financial years
A total of R56 575 was spent on the provision of SA Sign Language interpreters for programmatic events during the 2019/20 financial year.
The Western Cape as a whole, as facilitated by DCAS, has spent the following amounts on the provision of SA Sign Language support to the deaf:
• R196 432 during the 2019/20 financial year.
• R83 050 during the 2020/21 financial year. It must be noted that many activities had to be curtailed during the various levels of lockdown in the last financial year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but some events were hosted online with Sign Language interpreters providing their services virtually.
2. whether her Department has programmes and/or projects that support initiatives and clubs offering sports for persons with disabilities in the province, particularly in the rural and disadvantaged areas; if so, how much funding is her Department giving to these initiatives and clubs?
Response:
2. DCAS has programmes and/or projects that support initiatives and clubs offering sports for persons with disabilities in the province, particularly in the rural and disadvantaged areas. The Department gave the following funding to these initiatives and clubs?
Disability federations supported in 2020-2021 financial year:
• WPSAPD R40 000
• CWSAPD R20 000
• WCSAPD R20 000
Funding allocated for 2021-22 financial year:
• DISWEC R150 000
• Goods and services to clubs and federations R100 000
• CWSAPD R 50 000
• WPSAPD R 50 000
Within the Club Development Programme of which there are 37 Urban clubs (within Cape Metropole) -and 143 clubs Rural (meaning outside of the Cape Metropole) funding are made available to support clubs holistically amongst others for supporting people with disabilities. Within the major events programme funds are also made available for major events dedicated to the disabled person such as the OCC wheelchair race for the disabled – Pacalsdorp Eden (Garden Route).
