EFF strongly condemns the right-wing protest by the DA, AfriForum, and Freedom Front Plus against the BELA Act

6 November 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) strongly condemns the nauseating demonstration by the Democratic Alliance (DA) together with right wingers such as AfriForum, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) against the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act which seeks to encourage the language policy to be broader and inclusive, thus bringing an end to the marginalisation of African learners.

We are not surprised that these white supremacist right wing organisations are marching against this progressive legal instrument that seeks to redress the imbalances of the past, because they are still caught up in the apartheid mentality of separate development. They want the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) to have exclusive powers to determine schools' language and admission policy and in the governing structures where they dominate; they will then use their numerical majority to exclude none-Afrikaans speaking learners from participating in learning.

Countless learners escape the disastrous conditions of ANC-run government schools—where they endure shocking environments, including the indignity of pit toilets—only to confront a new barrier: racism from SGBs in suburban and private schools. These bodies weaponise Afrikaans as a tool of exclusion, denying African learners their rightful place. The BELA Act makes a clear stand against this injustice, stripping SGBs of the power to impose discriminatory language policies and placing this authority with the heads of education departments to ensure fairness. Afrikaans will still be available, but not as a weapon for exclusion and oppression.

While President Ramaphosa has signed the Act into law, his decision to reconsider the language policy provisions has emboldened racist entities like the DA, AfriForum, and FF+ to take to the streets. This is not a protest—it is an act of treason, a direct attempt to pressure the govemment into abandoning its democratic duty to end the discrimination faced by African learners. These groups are fighting to uphold an exclusionary status quo, resisting any progress towards a fair and just education system for all.

No degree of apartheid nostalgia either in the form of the display of old flag, its colours memorabilia, symbols, racist utterances of the so called white genocide, and even gathering at the Voortrekker monument to reminisce and invoke the spectre of apartheid will undo the implementation of the BELAAct. The Act must be implemented across the length and breadth of the country including the clauses that have now been referred for further public consultation. It cannot be that we are held at ransom by a group of people who are driven by their deep seated racial hatred and white supremacist ideals that seek to undermine the dignity black people in this country.

The EFF will fight for the full implementation of the BELA Act in its entirety for the benefit of the majority of African learners in South Africa. Additionally, we will be lodging a complaint against the DA, AfriForum and FF+ with the Equality Court for their blatant racism.

Issued by Leigh-Ann Mathys, National Spokesperson, EFF, 6 November 2024