Speech by Dr BS Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology

For the Launch of the Pilot Project: Telephone Interpreting Services for South Africa (TISSA)

On 15 March 2002 (13:00 – 15:00)
at Katlehong Police Station

Commissioner Selebi, Chairperson of PANSALB, Mr Kumalo, Chairperson of my Advisory Panel on Language Policy, Dr Alexander, Master of Ceremonies, Mr Wakashe, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We are here today to mark an important milestone for our government and its people. Today, in the spirit of Batho Pele, we are taking a bold step towards putting our people and their languages first! It therefore gives me great pleasure, Ladies and Gentlemen, to launch the pilot Telephone Interpreting Service for South Africa (or TISSA, as it has become known) today. This project signifies that government is taking steps to accelerate the pace of transformation and to provide equal access to public service in our country.

With March being the month for Human Rights, we could not have launched this project at a better time. We are called upon to foster respect for all Human Rights in our country. With the launch of TISSA today, we are also highlighting the importance of linguistic rights in our country, a country that proudly boasts one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. Section 30 of the Bill of Rights recognizes language as a basic human right: "Everyone has the right to use the language … of their choice, but no one exercising these rights may do so in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights".

We have to remind ourselves that we are a government for the people and because we are a government for the people, our role is to provide services and manage programmes on behalf of the people of this country. We have to realise that when we provide a service we do it through the medium of language. Language impacts on every aspect of service delivery, in fact, language impacts on every aspect of human life.

A person's mother tongue is almost like a "second skin": it is a natural possession of every human being, for we use language to articulate our thoughts, norms and values, to explore our experience and customs, and to construct our society and the laws that govern it. It is through language that we express our hopes and ideals. Language plays a crucial role in our rapidly changing modern society in assisting us to gain access to information of every conceivable kind.

Our Constitution, the highest law in our country, protects the linguistic diversity of our country. Through TISSA, we hope to contribute to effective and democratic governance and we hope to contribute to the reconstruction of our society by raising the quality of life of all the people of South Africa by giving them all an "equal voice".

I sincerely believe that the pilot TISSA project will bring us closer to these goals. More importantly, I believe it goes a long way in improving government’s service delivery by ensuring customer satisfaction and by respecting people’s language rights. In this way, the project provides concrete and equal access to public services regardless of language, which is, of course, in harmony with the Batho Pele principle of putting people first.

Cabinet approved the implementation of a pilot Telephone Interpreting Service for South Africa in 1998. A great deal of preparatory work and research was done both nationally and internationally to devise a project of this magnitude. I am therefore delighted to announce the pilot implementation of this project.

TISSA is a partnership project that is jointly funded by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) and the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB) - partners and pioneers in the sphere of language empowerment. The pilot TISSA project will be managed by the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment (ULFE) of the University of the Free State, who were also responsible for managing the interpreting services during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.

Although this project is a first for South Africa, telephone interpreting is being used successfully in countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, the USA and the Netherlands. I am happy to see that with the TISSA project South Africa will be matching international standards. The South African version, however, differs from the overseas examples in that it focuses on the 11 official languages to create equal access for our citizens to public services, whereas the services in other countries focus on providing interpreting services to the needs of immigrants in those countries.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the South African Police Service (SAPS) for joining hands with my Department in implementing the pilot TISSA project. The SAPS is a much-valued partner in this ground-breaking project. Through the commitment of SAPS 40 police stations have been identified where the pilot TISSA will be available. It therefore gives me great pleasure today to acknowledge the invaluable support and commitment of the South African Police Service. Our warm thanks must also go the Station Commander and his staff for affording us the opportunity of bringing the launch of the project to the people of Katlehong.

We are also in the process of negotiating with the Departments of Health, Land Affairs and Labour to assist us in identifying a further 20 sites where TISSA can be implemented. I am reminded of the saying: "isandla sigeza esinye", loosely translated as "one hand washes another". By this I mean that with TISSA we have a tool to improve government service delivery. But we need to test how and where this service will best work, and therefore we need the collaboration of other departments.

How will TISSA work? Our aim is to provide a language solution where language is a possible communication barrier. For instance, in a case where a member of the community visits a clinic or police station and finds that he/she is unable to speak the language of the service provider, interpreting services will be available via a telephone. The service provider, a police officer or a nurse, for example, will dial the TISSA Call Centre in Bloemfontein. The operator at the TISSA Call Centre will then connect the caller to an interpreter, who will be able to speak with both the service provider and the member of the community through a speakerphone.

As interpreting is a profession and as there are ethical issues involved – something we do not think of when we call our colleague or somebody from outside to interpret for us - the interpreters appointed for TISSA underwent a thorough selection and training process and will also be trained further on a continuous basis. Through TISSA, 40 posts have been created across all the 11 official languages and Sign Language for people living in various geographical areas.

The pilot service will run from March to October 2002 and will be operational during office hours, from 8:00 till 16:00, five days a week, from Monday to Friday. During the pilot period, the service will be provided only at the selected sites identified by the participating departments.

It is our wish that this pilot phase will demonstrate the feasibility of the project and that it will inform a recommendation of implementing a permanent service for all our government departments.

In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to again thank our partners - PANSALB and the SAPS - and to congratulate them with this ground-breaking work. To them I say, let this not be the end, but the beginning of long road which we will walk together for the advancement of our country. Let us continue to strengthen our partnerships in contributing to our country’s transformation.

TISSA was conceptualised and planned as a "people-centred" project. I therefore wish to convey our best wishes and congratulations to all the people who will benefit from this project, but also to the interpreters and operators who will be working at center stage. To the interpreters who will be linking languages across the country, I wish you well. To the operators, who will be at the central point of this project, I say, "connect the people"! Finally to all the people who have contributed to the birth of TISSA, "Nangamso!" (well done, may you do it again).