As per a decision taken by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications on 20 April, the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and DeafSA convened a meeting on 9 May to work together to make programmes, news bulletins and sport shows accessible to the Deaf Community by means of providing subtitles and South African Sign Language interpreters.
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Said SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago: “DeafSA and the SABC are partners in addressing the challenges that face the Deaf Community in South Africa. It will be important for both parties to focus on how the SABC can maintain its mandate, to educate, inform and to entertain the public – and that includes the Deaf Community.’
SABC Group Executive: Stakeholder Management Hlaudi Motsoeneng indicated that all the needs will not be addressed overnight but will be implemented in phases with deadlines. He suggested that immediate action should be taken by implementing pilot programmes with subtitles.
National Director of DeafSA Bruno Druchen agreed that as part of the pilot programmes the SABC should make the 7pm and 8.30pm news bulletins accessible, and that all public events should be included to keep the Deaf community informed.
The SABC undertook to request production houses to make their programmes accessible by providing subtitles and DeafSA will proceed by contacting the corporate industry to produce adverts with subtitles.
Government’s deadline for the Digital Terrestrial Terrain (DTT) to be fully functional is 2013, which will address the matter of having subtitles.
The SABC will investigate whether they will broadcast the XVI World Federation of the Deaf Congress to be held from 18 to 24 July 2011. The live coverage will be considered for the opening ceremony that co-incides with the International Nelson Mandela Day.
