We have elected to withdraw the application relating to Part A of the order sought in our notice of motion relating to Kyle Springate. The prayers sought in the notice of motion pertaining to Kyle Springate were, inter alia: a) declaring that the rights of Kyle Springate, a deaf learner at Westville Boys High School, in terms of sections 9(3), 10, 28, 29, 30 and 31 of the Constitution, have been infringed by the failure and neglect of the first and second respondents to permit him to enrol for and be examined on South African Sign Language as a language subject in Grade 12, for the purposes of the 2009 National Senior Certificate Examination; b) directing the first and second respondents, with immediate effect, to take all steps as are necessary to process the registration of candidate Springate, to enrol for the South African Sign Language as a language subject for the purposes of the 2009 National Senior Certificate Examination; c) directing the first and second respondents, with immediate effect, to take all steps as are necessary to enable candidate Springate to sit for an examination in South African Sign Language in 2009, in terms of the Regulations pertaining to the conduct, administration and management of assessment for the National Senior Certificate as published in Government Gazette No. 31337 of 24 August 2008, read with Government Gazette No. 27819 of 20 July 2005, and to take such measures as are necessary to reasonably accommodate the candidate by virtue of his deafness; d) Alternatively, to directing the first and second respondents to approve an examination equivalent to the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate in South African Sign Language for candidate Springate, as devised by the Centre for Deaf Studies of the University of Witwatersrand, duly assisted in so far as may be necessary by the second applicant and to permit the candidate to sit for such examination.

This decision to withdraw Part A of the notice of motion, is premised on the fact that the Minister of Basic Education's submissions with regard to Part A indicated that the Minister has to, by law, follow certain procedures for the formal accreditation of a subject as a matric subject. The opposition by the Minister indicated certain obstacles, inter alia that the subjects offered by other assessment bodies will only be included in the National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 if they are developed in the correct format and submitted to the Department of Basic Education for evaluation; and that the development of additional subjects for listing in the National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 and the conduct of the examination thereof, should be done by an accredited assessment body.

This means that even if we were to succeed in court on Part A, the remedy we sought would pose insurmountable problems for Kyle Springate to write South African Sign Language as a matric subject in two months time. After careful consideration of the matter, the legal team acting on behalf of the applicants deemed it most appropriate in the long term objectives of the deaf community, not to seek any relief in regard of Kyle Springate under Part A of the notice of motion. Kyle Springate will be writing South African Sign Language as an external subject, but this will unfortunately not be reflected on his National Senior Certificate as a subject. Kyle Springate remains committed to the cause for South African Sign Language to become an accredited subject for all deaf learners. We are hopeful that the Department of Basic Education, the Deaf Federation of South Africa and the KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society can work together with regard to Part B of the order sought, to reach a constructive settlement with time frames, specifically relating to establishing a process for the recognition of South African Sign Language as a school subject. Should these discussions come to naught, the matter will proceed to court.