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Great Win for Deaf Community: Priest on Recognition of Sign Language in South Africa

Archbishop Dabula Mpako and Fr. Mark James OP signing for the Catholic Deaf congress at Lumko, Benoni. 21 December 2022. Credit: SACBC

By Magdalene Kahiu

Durban, 29 July, 2023 / 9:45 pm (ACI Africa).

The Coordinator for the Office of Ministry to Deaf Community at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has lauded the recognition of South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language in South Africa, describing the move as a great win for the country’s deaf community.

SASL was recognized as the 12th official language in South Africa on July 19 after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Sign Language Bill into law. 

In a Wednesday, July 26 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Mark James said recognizing SASL as an official language is likely to encourage other African countries to follow suit. 

“It’s a great win for the deaf community in South Africa because they need that recognition,” Fr. James said. 

Fr. James said that deaf people have for a long time not been able to access services in various facilities including hospitals because of the lack of sign language interpreters. 

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“The government is now accepting the fact that these people need help. It is wonderful,” said the member of the Order of Preachers of Southern Africa (Dominicans) based in Eswatini. 

Fr. James said while SASL has been offered as a subject in schools from preschool until the final year of high school since 2015, deaf students in tertiary schools are still experiencing challenges in accessing education.

“We are hoping that with SASL now being made an official language, it will be easier for deaf people to access tertiary education,” he said and explained that accessing tertiary education has been a challenge for deaf students as they have to pay for full-time interpreters and tuition.

“We are hoping that universities will have facilities for deaf people,” he said. 

He also said that making SASL an official language is a great milestone for the Church in the three SACBC member nations, Botswana, South Africa, and Eswatini. 

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“It will help a lot in raising awareness, and for people to begin to learn sign language,” he said, adding that SASL “will be a great support in raising awareness in the Church in regard to the needs of deaf people.”

He said, “Often people are not aware that we have deaf people in the Parish, and if they do they don’t know how to communicate with them.”

Fr. James said that with more people trained in sign language, many deaf people will  benefit from translation services in churches, adding that sign language classes were ongoing in various Parishes within the Catholic Diocese of Manzini in Eswatini.

South Africa is the fourth African nation to recognize sign language as an official language after Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Magdalene Kahiu

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.

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