South Africa: Languages Bill to 'Improve Access to Services'

27 January 2012

Pretoria — Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile says the draft South African Languages Bill is not only intended to promote all the country's official languages, but to improve access to services.

The Bill proposes that government departments use at least two languages to communicate with the public. Provinces would also be expected to choose languages that are dominant or mostly spoken to communicate with the public. This, in turn, would open up access to knowledge about services for many more people.

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