Implementation of Text-To-Speech Audio System in isiXhosa for Dwesa Community in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

The relevance of the system to the community in the Dwesa area and other communities where isiXhosa was the first language stemmed from the language policies of the country. The national government of the Republic of South Africa had put in place policies for promoting the use of indigenous languages in South Africa. These were important policies because in the previous dispensation indigenous languages did not receive adequate support and were not accorded official status. The democratic government wanted to address this imbalance in the lives of the people of the country. There were various initiatives by the national government to promote indigenous languages on television, on radio and in other aspects of life in the Republic of South Africa. For instance the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, had targeted 90% locally produced content on radio and television. It was expected that a large portion of that content would be in indigenous languages.