By Katlego Sekhu
The FW de Klerk Foundation has expressed concern over reports that Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile, Head of the South African Police Service in the Western Cape, has instructed that English must be used in all A-1 statements at police stations around the province.
A-1 statements are usually completed by people when they are reporting crimes at police stations.
“This is in flagrant contravention of section 6(3)(a) of the Constitution which requires that the national government and provincial governments “must use at least two official languages,” a statement from the foundation reads.
“The failure of General Patekile to understand this fundamental constitutional requirement may be ascribed to the fact that he appears not to be aware of the provisions of the 2012 Use of Official Languages Act (UOLA).”
The Act is supposed “to regulate and monitor the use of official languages for government purposes and to – promote parity of esteem and equitable treatment of all South Africa’s official languages. It requires all government departments – including the SAPS – to adopt language policies that comply with section 6(3)(a) of the Constitution.”
In addition to this, the Act is also supposed to facilitate “equitable access” to government services and information (to ensure that wherever possible South Africans are provided services in the official language that they best understand).
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