AfriForum submits comments on BELA Bill ‒ rejects unconstitutional amendments targeting Afrikaans schools
15 June 2022
AfriForum has just submitted comprehensive comments on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill, in which it states that some of the proposed amendments are unconstitutional and threaten Afrikaans mother-language education. It also emphasises that if these amendments were to be implemented, it would amount to an irreparable, unilateral, and permanent breach of the 1994 constitutional settlement by the ANC government.
According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, the extensive legal opinion that forms part of this organisation’s submission indicates that there are many grounds on which the Bill deserves to be rejected. “For the Afrikaans community, the proposals that the provincial education heads should in future have the final say on the admission and language policy of schools, are the most contentious aspect. Not only does this amount to an unacceptable increasing centralisation of power in the hands of the state, but it will also destroy the current model of cooperation between the state and school communities, as represented by the democratically elected governing bodies of schools.”
AfriForum is of the opinion that there is no reason to interfere with the existing provisions of the South African Schools Act. As has been confirmed by several rulings of the Constitutional Court in the recent past, governing bodies as representatives of parents, learners and local school communities are much better equipped to determine the needs of their schools. They can provide the best input to ensure that children will enjoy access to excellent education in a formative educational and cultural environment.
Apart from the threat to Afrikaans schools, there are further grounds that make the BELA Bill undesirable, for example the vague nature of some proposals and the impractical increasing administrative red tape that will result from its implementation.