This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
City Press reports that there are nine permanently employed and 20 casual SA Sign Language interpreters in all 864 courts in SA to interpret for deaf people during court proceedings.
This is despite reports showing that there are approximately 4 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the country. Even though SA will soon make SA Sign Language its 12th official language, lack of interpreters at police stations, hospitals, clinics and courts continues to be a major challenge. Interviews conducted with the deaf community demonstrate that essential workers in the public sector such as police officers, doctors, nurses and court officials cannot communicate in SA Sign Language. Accordingly, deaf people have a constant struggle. Nonprofit organisations such as Neema Foundation for the Deaf, Deafinitely and DeafSA confirm that the deaf community experiences many challenges at government departments due to communication barriers. Stakeholders lament that patients and victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence are often assisted by their immediate family members, teachers, church leaders or even friends. They believe it is not advisable for such individuals to act as interpreters during court cases, as they are not equipped to handle legal matters, which could compromise victims during court proceedings. Justice department spokesperson Steve Mahlangu said they had recently collaborated with the Pan South African Language Board to embark on the training of frontline staff in basic sign language to make services easily accessible to the deaf community. This initiative will be rolled out in the current financial year.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Vicky Abraham at City Press (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page