isiXhosa in court judgment a win for multilingualism
South Africa has 12 official languages and although the language of record in its courts is currently English, this does not negate the rights of citizens to use their own languages during court proceedings, a court found.
Image: FILE
THE legal practitioner hauled to court by a magistrate for addressing her in isiXhosa, should not be punished for contempt when not using English as the official language of record, says the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).
The organisation was reacting to a recent Eastern Cape High Court outcome over a contempt of court charge brought against Luvuyo Melani for addressing the court in isiXhosa.
In the matter brought before the high court for special review, the magistrate was under the impression that speaking any language other than English constituted contempt of court.
The magistrate sitting at the Whittlesea Magistrates Court had struggled to hear a lawyer over the noise of an air conditioner, and the lawyer then addressed the magistrate in isiXhosa, resulting in her believing that he brought the court “into disrepute”.
While initiating contempt of court proceedings against the Legal Aid South Africa lawyer, the magistrate, who is not named in the judgment, later seemed to have reservations, and she turned to the high court, sitting in Bhisho, where she referred the half-completed contempt of court proceedings to this court as a “special review” so that she could have clarity on the matter.
Instead of meeting the magistrate’s expectation of speaking up as requested by her (in English), Melani spoke in isiXhosa. Before embarking on this route, however, he requested to be assisted by the interpreter if the magistrate could not understand him. He perceived that the reason she could not hear him was because he might not be arguing sensibly in a language that is not his mother tongue. An exchange ensued, with Melani speaking in the vernacular.
The magistrate viewed this as disrespectful towards the court and embarked on contempt of court proceedings against him. This was, however, halted pending the outcome of the review to the high court.
The high court found the proceedings to be irregular as the magistrate’s court lacked jurisdiction to summarily try common law contempt, and the judge noted that Melani was never clearly informed of the charge, nor of his rights.
In welcoming the decision, PanSALB said the high court correctly found the contempt proceedings to be incorrect given the constitutional aspirations of the language provisions.
The language organisation also pointed to the constitution which stipulates the right to a fair trial that every accused person must be tried in a language that he understands or, if that is not practicable, to have the proceedings interpreted into that language.
“As PanSALB, we want to dispel the notion that the use of indigenous languages is only meant for South African citizens outside of their professional careers. On the contrary, all South Africans enjoy equal language rights and the right to participate in public life using their own languages,” the organisation said.
It pointed out that interpreters are there for all participants during court proceedings, not just the accused.
Julius Dantile, PanSALB Acting Chief Executive Officer, said that there can only be furtherance of multilingualism in the country when all citizens can fully participate in public life using their own languages, regardless of the profession they are in.
Cape Times