Johannesburg - The speaker of the Joburg Municipal Council, Colleen Makhubele, said the municipal council would ensure that they receive interpretation services during council sittings.
This comes after a complaint from the IFP caucus in the City of Joburg, which complained that there were no translation services for councillors.
IFP councillor Mlungisi Mabaso had complained that there was discrimination against councillors who did not speak languages that were not favoured by the majority, such as Afrikaans.
“The rules of council do allow for the use of language translation services to accommodate all languages in council. In the Old Council Chamber during the previous political term, translation services were provided without any hindrances, and the budget was prioritised to ensure the use of such services,” Mabaso said.
Responding to this complaint, Makhubele said there were plans to ensure that the translation services were fully functional for the benefit of all councillors.
Makhubele said the City of Joburg Council had previously provided translation services and was in the process of ensuring that these critical services were resumed to assist all councillors to participate meaningfully and productively in council.
“It is critically important to adhere to the language policies as adopted by council and ensure the access of minority populations and respect for all official languages because historically language policies were most often used to promote Afrikaans and English as official languages. We also take due cognisance of the promotion and contribution of multilingualism in the council to cultural diversity and social cohesion that must filter through to the diverse communities that we serve,” she said.
Makhubele said there had been processes for initiating a tender process to acquire translation services. The process had been prolonged by problems in the supply chain.
“A tender process was initiated as early as last year; however, due to some delays in supply chain management processes, the legislature was unable to complete the procurement process. This process to appoint a suitable service provider for these services has since resumed to ensure full adherence to all supply chain requirements, and in this regard, a bid evaluation committee has since been appointed to finalise the process of awarding the tender,” she said.
The Star