New laws for schools in South Africa – Ramaphosa’s big dilemma
President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a tough choice over whether to sign the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill sitting on his desk in its current form or send it back to Parliament to be reworked.
While some in government, including new education minister Siviwe Gwarube, are urging Ramaphosa not to pick up the pen, others, like Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, are telling him to “sign that law [and] we’ll debate [it with opponents of it] later.”
These conflicting calls have put Ramaphosa in a difficult position, as they are coming from within his own party and partners within the ruling coalition agreement of the seventh administration.
Ramaphosa is currently heading a broad co-governing/coalition agreement labelled the ‘Government of National Unity (GNU)’ after the African National Congress (ANC) lost its long-standing majority in the country’s May 2024 general elections.
The GNU is made up of 10 disparate political parties who have agreed to a common minimum programme; however, they sometimes have staunch ideological and policy differences.
The two largest parties in the GNU, the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA), have various points of contention, notably the BELA Bill.
The BELA Bill was first introduced by former Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in January 2022.
After vigorous back-and-forth and numerous amendments, the Bill was passed by Parliament on 16 May 2024, mere days before the end of the sixth administration.
“This is a major achievement for the sixth administration and for the transformation of the South African Basic Education Sector – the next step is for the President to sign it into law,” said Motshekga after the bill was sent to the president for assent.
Broadly, the provisions in the revised Bill include:
- Allowing schools to determine and develop their own language and admission policies but giving the Department of Basic Education the final say;
- Regulating various aspects of school governing bodies;
- Making Grade R the new compulsory school-starting age;
- Criminalising parents who do not ensure their children are in school;
- Regulating home education;
- Confirming the ban on corporal punishment.
Don’t pick up that pen
While some provisions have been widely welcomed—including expanding the definition of corporal punishment to protect children and criminalising some parental conduct—there are various parts of the Bill which still have many up in arms.
These are related to School Governing Bodies (SGBs), language policies, and what is labelled as increasing and centralising the state’s power and control of education and schools.
CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas), Dr Jaco Deacon, previously told BusinessTech that provisions in the bill “will discourage school communities from taking ownership of public schools [and] will take us back to a state school model where the state will have ultimate control over everything.”
South Africa “stepped away from that model in 1994,” he said.
Supporters of the bill have argued that it removes a “loophole” that allowed SGBs to exclude learners from admission based on race—but again, Deacon contested this position.
If there is “blatant unfair discrimination, the SA Schools Act already allows for a remedy where SGB functions can be withdrawn where there is an appeal process,” said Deacon.
Parties against the current version of the BELA Bill include the DA, with its former spokesperson on Basic Education, Baxolile Nodada, labelling it “draconian”.
“While minor adjustments have been made to the bill in response to committee deliberations, they fail to address the core concerns raised by stakeholders,” said DA MPs Nodada and Delmaine Christians.
They added, “Centralising power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats undermines the critical role of parents, educators, and local governing bodies in shaping the educational landscape of their communities.”
Now sitting on Ramaphosa’s desk, the new Basic Education Minister, DA’s Siviwe Gwarube, hopes to change the President’s mind on putting pen to paper before revisions are made.
In an interview with News24, Gwarube said that she is looking to “advise” Ramaphosa to refer the BELA Bill back to the National Assembly “to fix those parts which the education sector has rejected.”
“The last thing I would like is for this bill to be locked up in litigation and prevent the department from being able to do things that need to be done – I’m saying that it is important not to throw out the entire bill with the bathwater,” said Gwarube.
While the Minister did not want to state which specific provisions she found problematic, she said that extensive documentation exists from the rigorous public consultations and committee hearings where objections were raised.
“They have all the documents and all the submissions from the sector, and they should look at them and rectify what they believe the sector has raised as concerns,” she said.
Sign it now!
While Ramaphosa has some urging him to drop the pen and send the Bill back to Parliament, many (most notably those within his own party) are calling on him to sign along the dotted line.
The BELA Bill is a brainchild of the ANC and features quite extensively in the outcomes of its most recent policy conference (2022).
The conference report states that “effective oversight of schools must be performed by ANC structures working with School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and the adoption of schools by ANC structures and leaders to ensure regular monitoring and support.”
It also said that it would do a “review of homeschooling,” and provide extensive “support for the BELA Bill and ensure ongoing mobilisation of communities.”
ANC Gauteng chairperson and provincial Premier Panyaza Lesufi used his recent response to the President’s Opening of Parliament speech to challenge Ramaphosa to ignore the naysayers and turn the Bill into law.
“My apologies to those who are partners in the Government of National Unity. Comrade President… I’m asking you politely and respectfully – sign that law,” said Lesufi on 19 July.
“The law is simple – all our children must be in the same classroom and taught by the same teacher. What is wrong with that particular proposal? The language of teaching must incorporate all twelve languages… what’s wrong with that particular proposal?”
“Sign that law, we’ll debate later,” added Lesufi.
The Basic Education Deputy Minister (of both the 6th and 7th administrations), Dr. Reginah Mhaule, shrugged off criticism by saying that the Bill does not hurt the sector but rather creates an inclusive, equitable, and efficient basic education system by harmonising SGBs with departments.
“It is a Bill that responds to the current needs in terms of the changing demographics of our communities, court findings, and our own observations as we monitor schools,” said Mhaule.
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