Original title: Investigating the non-compliance with language policy-related frameworks by government departments in South Africa
South Africa has laws and policies that support the use of multiple languages, but government departments do not follow them well. Researchers interviewed officials and held group discussions to find out why. They found that other government priorities, tight budgets and poor coordination make it hard to check whether departments comply. They also found no legal penalties for non-complianceFailing to follow a rule, policy or legal requirement., which the study links to the continued marginalisation of Indigenous languages.
A family agrees that everyone will take turns doing the dishes, but the same people keep leaving the sink full. The rule is hard to uphold when nobody has a clear job of checking and there is no consequence for skipping a turn. In this paper, the family rule stands for language policy, while unclear checking and no consequence match the barriers the study found in government departments.
When departments do not follow language policies, speakers of Indigenous languages can face continued marginalisation instead of equal linguistic status. The study points to a practical problem: without enforceable penalties and clear responsibilities, policies may not change what government departments do.
The abstract describes a qualitative study based on interviews and focus groups with officials from three language-related bodies. It does not report how widely the findings apply across all government departments, or whether the recommended penalties and clearer responsibilities would improve compliance.
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Investigating the non-compliance with language policy-related frameworks by government departments in South Africa — Bongane I Chauke, Yanga L.P. Majola, Tebogo Jacob Rakgogo — South African Journal of African Languages — doi:10.1080/02572117.2026.2720735
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.