The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will cooperate with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on the use of appropriate sign language on television news programmes, the public broadcaster said on Wednesday.
“We have been engaged in meetings with DeafSA [the Deaf Federation of South Africa] since April and we believe it is in our interests to provide our viewers with correct interpreters. We will cooperate with the human rights commission,” said spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
At one meeting, it was decided that DeafSA will be included when the broadcaster conducts interviews for prospective sign interpreters.
But DeafSA director Bruce Druchen said DeafSA has not been consulted or asked for advice since.
He wrote a letter of complaint to the SAHRC, saying the SABC is using South African Sign Language interpreters who are not skilled, and that the use of the deaf language is linguistically not correct.
“The problem is with the interpreters on SABC1 and SABC2. The SABC3 news interpretations are perfect but they are only 60 seconds long,” he said.
The SAHRC has launched an inquiry into the matter.
The commission’s Pumeza Jara on Tuesday said letters have recently been sent to the SABC and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, requesting information. “The commission’s next step will be informed by their responses,” she said.
The respondents must respond within 21 days. If they do not, two reminders will be sent before they are subpoenaed to appear before the commission.
But the SABC said on Wednesday it is in its interests to find an acceptable solution.
“We [SABC and DeafSA] are not on opposite sides of the coin. We want the same things; we are also interested in improving our services to our viewers,” said Kganyago. — Sapa
On the net
DeafSA