Page 1 - DECLARATION OF LANGUAGE RIGHTS OF SOUTH AFRICANS | LOURENS PROKUREURS
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DECLARATION OF LANGUAGE RIGHTS OF SOUTH AFRICANS

Hereby we, the citizens of South Africa, declare that we are entitled to the
following language rights, and that we express the confidence that this
document shall, in terms of Section 234 of the Constitution, be accepted by
the National Government as the Bill of Rights of language rights.

In the meantime we appeal to the state and the private sector to respect
these rights and to comply with them and a special appeal is made to the
courts to acknowledge this declaration as part of our implied constitutional
rights.

This declaration has the purpose to inform the citizens of South Africa of their
right to accept their language rights, to demand them and to ensure that
everyone respects the language rights of others in order to establish a
tolerant, language-respecting community.

We realize that the rights contained herein, to the extent that they apply to
the private sector, have an opposite requirement to respect these rights and
comply with them. We declare that this is not a closed list of language rights.

We demand our rights because:

    - We experience that the non-open use of our official languages is
         racially insensitive and in contravention of our Constitution;

    - There is the urgent need for clearly delineated language rights which
         are easily accessible and understandable, because the interpretation
         of the vague stipulations should not be left to the discretion of officials.

    - We realize that all people have to be treated equally – but not
         languages, because official languages only need to be treated with
         equal respect and fairness.

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