Ramaphosa signs BELA school changes into law – but throws critics a bone
President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill into law in a public ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 13 September 2024.
However, he said that he would delay the implementation of clauses 4 and 5—the two provisions related to language and admission policies that have caused upheaval among political parties—by three months for further consultation.
The rest of the Bill will be implemented in the meantime.
“Should the parties not agree on the approach (of clauses 4 and 5), then we will proceed with the full implementation of all parts of the Bill,” said Ramaphosa.
Now an Act, BELA amends sections of the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998.
Deputy Basic Education Minister Dr. Reginah Mhaule said at the signing that this is to “respond to administrative challenges facing our schools and to continue with the transformation agenda of the education system,” to reflect the “changing demographics of communities.”
Ramaphosa said that although South Africa has made “notable progress” to the access of education since 1994, “barriers continue to exist in a number of areas… and education outcomes often falls short.”
In providing the right to education, he said that “consideration should be given to equity, practicability and historical redress.”
The President added that to date, many learners “are denied access to schools because of their language policies” and disparities in norms and standards in governance and access to resources to enable education to perform optimally.
“The BELA Bill seeks to address these and many other challenges,” said Ramaphosa.
Broadly 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 and administration;
- 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.
Backlash
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 particularly to do with clauses 4 and 5, which the President reopened for consultation among parties for a limited time.
Interestingly, while it is tradition for a minister to attend the signing of a law that affects their portfolio, the Minister of Basic Education, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Siviwe Gwarube, decided to not attend the signing ceremony.
Gwarube is not convinced that the Bill is comprehensive in its current form and has requested the president to send it back to Parliament.
“Parliament must be allowed to fix what is currently wrong with the Bill so that millions of learners across the country can access and receive quality education for a better South Africa,” stated Gwarube hours before the signing.
Gwarube’s key objections relate to admissions and language policies, as well as grade R becoming the compulsory school-starting age.
“I have thus written to the president and notified him that, in the present circumstance, I cannot attend today’s signing ceremony until concerns regarding the Bill are rectified,” the minister confirmed.
Ramaphosa said in his speech that “extensive consultation” was done and if there were unconstitutional aspects of the laws, then the Constitutional Court will shut it down.
The signing ceremony comes just days after the DA – the second-largest party in the Government of National Unity (GNU) – had its leader John Steenhuisen rock the GNU boat by saying that the president’s intention to sign the BELA Bill into law on Friday would put the entire GNU at risk.
“If the President continues to ride rough-shod over these objections, he is endangering the future of the Government of National Unity, and destroying the good faith on which it was based,” said Steenhuisen.
The DA have long been fierce opponents of the bill—particularly provisions that give the ultimate power to approve admission and language policies of schools in South Africa to the government.
After meeting with Ramaphosa on Wednesday evening, the DA leader repeated that the DA would have to “consider its options” should the signing of the bill proceed.
“If the President goes ahead…, the DA will have to consider all of our options on the way forward,” he said.
“In a multi-party government, leaders need to respect the constraints and imperatives of their partners. Any leader who tries to ride roughshod over their partners will pay the price—because a time will come when the shoe is on the other foot, and they will need the understanding of those same partners in turn.”
The Freedom Front Plus, also part of the GNU, have also voiced their concerns over the Bill. “The law is ill-conceived and will cause needless uncertainty and disputes about clearly established rights and responsibilities related to Basic Education,” said Dr Wynand Boshoff.
“The FF Plus is using its position in the Government of National Unity (GNU) to apply the pressure needed to persuade the President to refer the ill-conceived Bill back to Parliament for the necessary amendments and improvements,” he added.
While the Bill is said to shake the GNU, parties say that it does not mean the end of it and Ramaphosa welcomed these parties to work towards solutions of their concerns within 3 months.
“While I do not wish to comment directly on the Bela Bill, I wish to express that what is happening will affect the GNU… But it will not end it [GNU],” said DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille.
Impending legal action
Theuns Eloff, the chairperson of the Trust for Afrikaans Education (Trust vir Afrikaans Onderwys) told Daily Maverick that they will take the Bill to court as soon as Ramaphosa put pen to paper.
Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum said that it will proceed with legal steps, arguing that “the Bill will enable the destruction of a linguistic and cultural community’s schools, thereby jeopardising the group’s cultural existence.”
The full Act can be found below:
Read: This is what will make the DA leave the Government of National Unity
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