War of words goes to court

Language activist Cornelius Lourens has taken parliament to the Equality Court for, he alleges, unfairly discriminating against 10 of the 11 official languages by publishing legislation in English only.

The speaker of the National Assembly, the chairman of the National Council of Provinces, the minister of arts and culture, and the Pan African Language Board have been cited as respondents.

The case was heard in the Equality Court, sitting in the Cape Town High Court, yesterday.

Speaking outside court, Lourens said the government had a constitutional obligation to promote all the indigenous languages but English was being promoted as a "super-official language".

"This makes a mockery of democratic values in terms of language diversity," said Lourens.

"We want parliament to ensure that, when a law is enacted, it is translated into all the official languages within three months.

"We also want them to start with the backlog of the last few years and get that translated as well."

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has retained advocate Wim Trengove, SC, and parliament advocate Ismail Jamie, SC.

Lourens said that, on average parliament passed 37 laws a year, which amounted to an average of 400000 words. Translation would create permanent employment for two translators for every language if the government heeded his advice.

But parliament and Mthethwa said Lourens' case was unsustainable and his allegations did not amount to discrimination. They asked the court to dismiss the case.

Lourens' legal costs, and the fees of expert witnesses, are being paid by AfriForum.

AfriForum deputy CEO Alana Baily said: "We feel strongly about language rights and we will support this all the way to the Constitutional Court or even the United Nations."

The hearing continues today.