The National Assembly has officially approved sign language as South Africa's 12th official language.

Parliamentary spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo said the bill was introduced and referred to the committee in January 2023.

He said the NA approved the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill [B1 – 2023] to amend section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. The amendment is to include South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language to promote the rights of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing.

"In response to the call for public comment, the Committee received 58 written submissions from individuals and organisations. The majority of the submissions were in support of the Bill," he explained in a statement.

Mothapo said until now, the South African Constitution provided for 11 official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. The adoption of this constitutional amendment yesterday will bring to 12 the number of official languages in South Africa, once the President signs the Bill into law.

Mothapo said the Committee noted the opposing views expressed by a few commentators but submits that the recognition of SASL, as a twelfth official language, is an important step towards the realisation of the rights of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing.

"Further, the Committee acknowledged that SASL is not a universal language, different countries have their own sign language and regions have dialects but submits that, in South Africa, it is in the promotion and development of SASL that the various dialects are also recognised," he said.

"Adoption of the Bill could impact the scope and purpose of the reference to sign language in such legislation. Relevant departments administering those and related legislation should take note of this constitutional amendment recognising SASL as an official language in terms of section 6 of the Constitution and consider whether the adoption of the Bill may require consequential amendment to associated legislation for purposes of clarifying the status of SASL as expressed in the Constitution," Mothapo said.