Media Release
Minister of Mining, Dr. Susan Shabangu making mockery of South African Sign Language (SASL)
Youtube video link: http://youtu.be/Vom6cF0Fpbc
Many Deaf and hard of hearing viewers of South Africa were thrilled to see that South African Sign Language (SASL)
interpreter was available during the President Jacob Zuma's state-of-the-nation address on last Thursday night.
For first time in my life, President Jacob Zuma, in his address to the nation, announced that SASL curriculum will be
implemented in schools from 2015. This affirms that the Government of South Africa still believes in implementation. I
trust South African government and Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA) will work closely in the process of
implementation of the SASL curriculum.
It was Zuma's announcement that sign language would be included in the school curriculum that had MPs roaring with
waving hands. Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr. Blade Nzimande responded jovially by waving his hands in
air. In Deaf culture, Deaf audiences will use a more visually expressive variant of clapping. Instead of clapping their palms
together, they raise their hands straight up with outstretched fingers and twist their wrists. It is because those Deaf
persons cannot hear clapping but they can see waving hands.
I felt inspired by the reaction from Dr. Blade Nzimande as this was a testament of hard work the Deaf and hard of
hearing community in South Africa, Member of Parliament Dr. Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen and especially DeafSA have
done since the dawn of our freedom and democracy. By officially recognizing SASL, Deaf people can enjoy their rights
on equal basis with others, as enshrined in the constitution and improve their quality of life by means of equal education
opportunities. DeafSA through its provincial offices and affiliates has fought and lobbied successfully at various levels of
South African decision making levels in order to ensure that the Deaf plight remain on the national and provincial
agenda.
However, when I looked beyond the waving hands of Dr. Blade Nzimande, a tasteless gag by a lady in purple dress
caught my attention. It was Minister of Mining, Dr. Susan Shabangu. She smirked as she pretended to use sign language
by mimicking nonsensical sign language. She was apparently referring to the thoughtless joke of fraudulent interpreter
at Nelson Mandela memorial service. Despite this key milestone and important purpose, her ‘playground gag’ was a
total offensive mockery of South African Sign Language.
It was infuriating to see ‘playground mockery’ and it made me think after years of advocating for sign language to be a
part of the human race, is still to this day, be mocked. Sign Language is my family language and to see this in mainstream
peak time television, it was offensive for us deaf and sign language users who are striving for equality.
The South African government has a proud history since our first democratic elections held in 1994 of promoting the
rights of persons with disabilities, including deaf citizens.
We are proud to say that South Africa was one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention of the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol without reservation in 2007. This Convention
recognizes the importance of sign language, the deaf and hard of hearing community and culture and protects the rights
of all deaf and hard of hearing people to use sign language. It also protects the rights of deaf and hard of hearing people
to all other modes of communication that facilitate equal access to communication and to information.
The White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, released in 1997 by The Presidency, recognizes sign
language as the first and natural language of Deaf people, whatever the spoken language of his or her hearing parents
may be, and acknowledges sign language as the central focus of Deaf people's human rights. It furthermore notes that
sign language is a language in its own right, with its own grammar and syntax, and that there are several regional
variations of sign language in South Africa.
Why this was distasteful and not acceptable?
A wonderful announcement made by the president was about education has nothing to do with the mockery of SASL.
The Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities is very well aware about the concerns raised by the
deaf community, that government measures to date have been inadequate for any significant promotion of the
linguistic identity of Deaf persons during the compilation of the baseline Country Report on the Implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Many Deaf learners in special schools are not taught in sign
language due to the lack of sign language skills of educators. Many Deaf children are not attending school due to the
lack of South African Sign Language (SASL) medium schools closer to home. Please have a heart and understand, Dr.
Susan Shabangu.
This is also not acceptable to link this to the fake interpreter saga at expense of wonderful SASL interpreters who are
working hard on daily basis, mostly on volunteer basis, to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing people in South Africa
have access to communication and information on equal basis with others. Due to weak implementation of legislation,
we have immense shortage of SASL interpreters. The current ratio is 1 certified interpreter per 10,000 citizens.
There is still no justice for corrupt officials behind the fake interpreter. The ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu's
personal assistant Cikizwa Xozwa and her husband Rev. Bantubahle Xozwa, head of the ANC's Religious and Traditional
Affairs desk, resigned with immediate effect after the Mandela memorial service. The couple were allegedly owners of
the company that fraudulent interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie worked for. Deputy Minister for Women, Children and
Persons with Disabilities Bogopane-Zulu chose to align with corrupt officials by declaring that the interpreter was not
fake. The government needs to show they are serious in protecting our human rights as enshrined in The Constitution.
The government also needs to be serious in fighting against corruption. Dr. Susan Shabangu’s attitude was totally
uncalled for.
I wonder if Dr. Susan Shabangu, on her capacity as Minister of Mining, is aware about the fact that there are several deaf
miners in this country who are part of the economy workforce. Is it acceptable to make fun of their language?
Such mockery for the sake of laughs - and it was not even humorous to any extent - demeans SASL which has been
proven to be a formal language complete with grammar, syntax, phonology, morphology, and semantics. We demand
that Dr. Susan Shabangu issue an apology to millions of deaf and hard of hearing people as well as the qualified
interpreters for such inappropriate disrespect for a language that is recognised as official minority language status in
South Africa. I also demand the government officials refrain from mocking sign language in any way ever again.
The South African government can still set a positive example and lead by example by taking these remedial steps in
favor of recognising South African Sign Language as the 12th official language.
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” - Scott Hamilton
 END
Contacts:
Braam Jordaan, South African citizen [email protected], Twitter: @braamjordaan, www.braamjordaan.com
Charl Strydom, deaf miner [email protected] +27 84 208 7897 (through his father, Casper)
Keith Khoza, Head of Communications of the African National Congress confirmed the person in question is Dr Susan
Shabangu, Minister of Mining.
Biography:
Braam Jordaan was born profoundly Deaf to Deaf parents in Benoni, Johannesburg. Upon graduation from De La Bat School for the
Deaf, he was among the first in South African history to matriculate with A-Aggregate. He was offered a bursary to study Computer
Arts at Universal Computer Arts Academy (UCAA). After graduating from UCAA, he worked for Wicked Pixels, Condor Cape
town/Waterfront Studios. The clients included BMW, Coronation, Nampak, Mitsubishi, Yardley, Musica, World Wildlife Fund, Rabea
Tea, American Eagle and Graça. He is perhaps best known for his enchanting one-minute animation entitled “The Rubbish Monster,”
which garnered no less than 12 awards, including Multichoice Vuka!, 11th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF),
5th KAFI and Animation Exchange Best of the Best. “The Rubbish Monster” was featured in The Filmmakers' Guide to South Africa:
10th Anniversary Edition as “The Review of the Decade”. It led to Cambridge University Press publishing his children’s book
adaptation in 2009 and it is currently translated into a Swedish version called Skräpmonstret. His involvement didn't stop with the
publication, he is single-handedly promoting the book all over the world and has managed to sell twice as many copies as the next
best-selling title in the Rainbow Reading Series – and there are 350 titles in the series.
He developed and animated a rabbit character for the world's first online animated Sign Language Dictionary for the Deaf Culture
Centre in Toronto, Canada, and Sipho the Lion, the official mascot of the XVI World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf
(WFD). He led the technical committee for the same congress. He also conjured the visual effects and animation for Gallaudet
University's short film titled, “Gallaudet” (2010). He specializes in film production and transfiguring creative concept into high-end
and award-winning film, animation, visual effects and the new media. He continues tirelessly to promote Sign Language and the
Human Rights of Deaf people worldwide through his colorful spectrum of work. He is currently serving as a board member for the
World Federation of the Deaf Youth Section (2011 – 2015) and he is the winner of the DeafNation Inspiration Award for Visual Arts
in 2012.