“I watched with keen interest the interview of President Mandisa Maya last week. I was particularly interested in her comments concerning the use of our African languages in courts and the need for the development of our languages as languages of record. My interest not only as a South African (who is able to speak isiXhosa) but as a forensic and legal linguist developing the area in SA and the African continent. I together with 2 colleagues have just compiled my PhD research into book form (handbook on Legal Languages) last year addressing these very questions and how we can implement our languages in court’ - Dr Zakeera Docrat

This also seems topical to me given that February is language month.

Guest on the line: Dr Zakeera Docrat (Andrew W Mellon Foundation Post-doctoral research fellow in forensic and legal linguistics, University of the Western Cape).