AfriForum protests against controversial Bela Bill at Parliament

26 October 2023

A large group of AfriForum members today joined various other organisations and parties at Parliament in Cape Town to object to the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (also known as the Bela Bill). The bill is being tabled at the National Assembly today.

According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s head of Cultural Affairs, AfriForum has since 2017 been objecting to aspects of the bill that will render parents’ say re the language and admissions policies of their children’s schools useless. The organisation views the bill as a direct attack against Afrikaans education, which will have extremely negative consequences for quality education in Afrikaans single-medium schools in particular, but ultimately also for all South African schools.

“The Minister of Basic Education, the deputy minister and ANC members of the portfolio committee who have already approved the bill, make no secret of the fact that they want to put an end to Afrikaans schools – a move that in effect will bring an end to mother-language education in all languages other than English in the country. In addition, the legislation will empower the State to add any number of learners to existing schools, instead of fixing dysfunctional schools and building more. This is another step that will undermine quality education,” Bailey explains.

She adds that the ANC is clearly trying to steamroll the bill through all the required processes in order to get it implemented before the 2024 election. “This will centralise more power in the incompetent hands of the State and render communities’ involvement in their schools by way of democratically elected governing bodies meaningless. Currently, the governing bodies have the right to make the final decision on schools’ language and admissions policies, but the bill proposes that this power should henceforth rest with the provincial heads of education, in other words with political appointments. It is being argued that this amendment is necessary to prevent discrimination against learners, but this is a blatant fabrication, as existing legislation provides for the necessary steps to put an end to discrimination, should it occur.”

Bailey states that the bill must also be passed by the National Council of Provinces, before it can be presented to the President for final approval. Only then can it be implemented. “It is therefore essential to take a visible stand at each of these steps in an effort to prevent us from having to embark on legal action after implementation. However, AfriForum is preparing for litigation, just in case. Everyone who has the duty to decide on this bill must realise that some of the content is unconstitutional and has the potential to cause incalculable damage to education and mutual relations in the country,” she concludes.

Issued by Alana Bailey, Head: Cultural Affairs, AfriForum, 26 October 2023