Legal storm over new school laws for South Africa

 ·16 Jan 2025

Solidarity, AfriForum and the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools (SCS) are initiating legal action against the full implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act.

The parties may also potentially challenge the BELA Act itself in the future.

The groups have sent legal notices to both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, demanding that the full proclamation of the laws in December 2024 be revoked.

The sections related to language and admission policies are at the heart of the fight-back against the laws, which centralise the final say and approval of these policies within government departments instead of with communities and school governing bodies.

Opponents have argued that this will weaken schools’ capacity to teach in languages like Afrikaans, while proponents have argued that it will ensure that the government can prevent schools from discriminating based on language and other factors.

Ramaphosa promulgated the new laws in their entirety in December, saying that the three-month postponement of sections of the Act related to language and admission policies had run its course and that the GNU’s dispute resolution processes had found in favour of proceeding with the laws as-is.

However, Solidarity et al. say that the president acted irrationally in doing so and that the move was contrary to various agreements and Gwarube’s own recommendation that the Act not be implemented fully.

The group also accused Gwarube of acting irrationally by co-signing the full implementation of the Act despite her own recommendations that it not be done a few weeks prior.

According to AfriForum Chief Executive Kallie Kriel, the promulgation of the BELA Act in its entirety is “an act of aggression” by the government against Afrikaans schools and children.

“The promulgation is an indication that the ANC is turning the government of national unity into a government of national disunity that seeks to simply coopt parties like the DA and FF+ to help the ANC in implementing its policy,” he said.

Notably, the DA, which campaigned in the 2024 national elections on firm opposition to the laws, ended up calling the full implementation of the laws with no changes a “win-win compromise”.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said that Gwarube, as head of the department, would establish the norms and standards surrounding the policies, arguing that this would be enough to protect rights.

However, another GNU partner, the Freedom Front Plus, is standing in opposition to the Act.

Despite Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen claiming that the GNU task team (which included the FF+) all accepted the full implementation of the laws, the FF+ said this week that the proclamation was “in conflict with the recommendation by the GNU dispute resolution mechanism”.

Contrary to the claims of acceptance of full implementation, the party said that “the task team recommended that the law not be referred back to Parliament at this stage, but that it should also not be adopted as is.”

The party said it had supported an option to delay the implementation of the remaining sections of the Act and give time for further consultation. Instead, the task team went with the option to proclaim the laws and let matters run their course.

However, the ultimate proclamation came without any restrictions or qualifications, which the FF+ said was not recommended by any of the task team parties.

It said that the proclamation should be revoked.

While the FF+ is not explicitly joining Solidarity et al.’s legal action, the party said it would consult with the union and AfriForum on its interests in protecting mother-tongue education.

It also said it would consult with the Minister of Basic Education on establishing norms, standards and policies for the relevant regulations that now need to be drafted, reserving its right to explore other avenues to challenge the laws.

Regarding the legal letters sent to Ramaphosa and Gwarube, Solidarity said that the parties have ten days to resolve the dispute.

“If there is no solution, (we) have no other choice but to go to court,” it said.

“The institutions of the Solidarity Movement also reserve the right to take legal action against the unconstitutionality of the BELA Act itself as well upon completion of the legal action against the promulgation notice,” it said.


Read: Ramaphosa fully implements new school laws for South Africa – with no changes

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