- 14 - (paragraphs 10.4 and 10.6), and not to language. In the circumstances, as has just been suggested in respect of Article 19, paragraph 2, it is not for the Committee to construct a case on this ground under Article 27, in the absence of a complaint from the authors. 4. The majority members of the Committee have relied on the circular of the Regional Commissioner but we do not think that the circular in any way supports the claim of violation of article 19 paragraph 2. The circular is in the following terms: “It has come to the attention of the office of the Regional Commissioner that some Government officials handle (answer) official phone calls and correspondence in Afrikaans contrary to the Constitutional provision that Afrikaans ceased to be the official language in this country after 21 March 1990. While it is understood that Afrikaans was for a very long time the official language, it now officially enjoys the same status as other tribal languages. All employees of the Government are thus advised to, in future, refrain from using Afrikaans when responding to phone calls and their correspondence. All phone-calls and correspondence should be treated exclusively in English which is the official language of the Republic of Namibia.” It is clear from the first paragraph of the circular that it is intended to apply only in relation to “official phone calls and correspondence” handled by Government officials. The circular points out that the handling of official phone calls and correspondence in Afrikaans was alright when Afrikaans was the official language of the territory of the State, but since English has now become the official language, Afrikaans is in the same position as other tribal languages and consequently official phone calls and correspondence should be responded to by Government employees only in English, which is the official language and not in Afrikaans. 5. We fail to see how the circular can be construed as imposing any restriction on the right to freedom of expression and to freedom to receive and impart information. When English is the official language of the State, it is legitimate for the State to insist that all official phone calls and correspondence should be responded to by Government officials in the official language, namely English, and not in Afrikaans. The advice given by the Government to its officials not to use Afrikaans, which has ceased to be the official language, but to use only English, which has now become the official language, is confined only to official phone calls and official correspondence and does not prevent any Government official from carrying on any conversation or correspondence which is private and not of an official character. If any other view were taken, namely that anyone in the territory of a State is entitled to carry on any official conversation or correspondence with a Government official in any language other than the official language of the State and that Government official is free to respond to such conversation or correspondence in that language, it would create a chaotic situation because there would, in that event, be multiplicity of languages in the official records of the State. The whole object of making a particular language as the official language of the State would be defeated. We are therefore of the view that the circular in question does not in any way violate article 19, paragraph 2 of the Covenant. 6. The suggestion implicit in the argument of the authors as set out in paragraphs 3(4) and 3(5) is that the State party should have languages as Afrikaans in administration, Courts, education and public life and that the absence of such legislation in the context of making English the official language was violative of the Covenant. But this suggestion overlooks the