More than 10 000 protest participants made it heard – Bela is our red line

5 November 2024

Bela is a red line that must not be crossed.

This was the simple but clear message that a crowd of more than 10 000 people conveyed today during the Bela protest march to every party and politician involved in South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU).

The Solidarity Movement, Solidarity, AfriForum, the Solidarity School Support Centre (SOS) and other organisations with an interest in Afrikaans education led the march in protest against the sections on public school admission and language policies included in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act 32 of 2024 (the Bela Act).

The DA and FF+, supporters of the protest action, received a memorandum containing demands, following which protesters embarked on a peaceful march spanning approximately 1,8 km from the Voortrekker Monument along Reconciliation Road towards Freedom Park. 
Here the memorandum, which was signed by more than 40 organisations, was handed over to Gayton McKenzie, as representative of the Precedency. 

John Steenhuisen (DA leader) and Pieter Groenewald (FF+ leader) and the leaders of the Solidarity Movement’s institutions formed the front line of the procession.

According to Flip Buys, Chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, contemporary colonialists such as Panyaza Lesufi, the premier of Gauteng, and Matome Chiloane, the MEC for Education in this province, are trying to anglicise Afrikaans schools like the colonialists of old. “They will not succeed. Afrikaans will remain. What we do here today is out of love. Unlike Lesufi and Co, our actions are not motivated by hatred towards other groups. It’s out of love for our children. It is out of love for our schools. It is out of love for our task, our heritage, and the country,” explains Buys.

“Bela is our red line. We convey this message to all political parties in the GNU to ensure they understand the intensity of the community’s sentiments. More than 10 000 people said today that they will not allow their children’s future to be taken away,” explains Dr Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive of Solidarity.

Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, labels the protest march as a “historic day” and the largest march of Afrikaans speakers since 1994. “People are angry, and they have come here to show it today. A law that targets Afrikaans schools and threatens our cultural survival has angered them.”

Leon Fourie, CEO of SOS, maintains that today’s protest action sends a clear message to the government. He also condemns the government’s laxity and apathy and emphasises that the government has not only not built a single Afrikaans school over the past 30 years but also does not take mother language teaching seriously and openly expresses hatred towards Afrikaans schools. “Today it’s about more than just ourselves or our generation,” he explains. “It’s about generations yet to come.” 

Steenhuisen emphasized during the signing of the memorandum that the language and admissions policy clause in the law gives too much power to the state and takes too much power away from parents and communities. “Our Constitution is clear. Every person has the right to education in the language or languages of their choice. These rights that are in our Constitution can no longer just be erased with a pen,” he explains. “We cannot hand this power over to a provincial officer in an office that sits far from the school and local community.”

Groenewald, for his part, denounced the ANC’s abuse of power with the adoption of the law in parliament before the national election, “because they knew they might not be the government after the election”. He pleaded for a change through the influence in the GNU. “Every step you take here today is a step of change.” He concluded by referring to the importance of mother language: “I am an Afrikaner and I am proud of it. Part of my pride is my mother language. That is why we must ensure that our pride is not trampled on.”   

The PA leader, McKenzie, who also secured entry to the Freedom Park site, received the memorandum on behalf of the Presidency. He thanked President Cyril Ramaphosa for listening to the voice of the Afrikaans community by postponing the implementation of the two articles. He, however, emphasised that the fight would continue. “We will fight for Afrikaans, because Afrikaans is not going anywhere.”

The institutions of the Solidarity Movement have today recommitted themselves to the ongoing struggle against the implementation of Section 4 and 5 of the Bela Act. Today’s visible demonstration is a powerful gesture, but only one way in which the institutions will stand up for mother language education, Afrikaans, teachers and children.

According to Buys, the negotiations with representatives of the GNU will now be met with clear evidence in hand – evidence from the thousands of South Africans who regard Bela as a red line and will not stand back and watch Afrikaans education be wiped out for political gain.

MEMORANDUM

To: The Government of National Unity 

From: Representatives of the Afrikaans community and supporters of mother-tongue education 

We, the speakers of Afrikaans and supporters of mother-tongue education from all population groups: 

- emphasise the importance of high-quality education for our country; 

- believe in the power of mother-tongue teaching as a method to provide and protect quality education; 

- would welcome and support quality mother-tongue education for all language communities; 

- believe that South Africa not only has an education problem, but above all a language problem; 

- are disappointed with the state’s slow progress with mother-tongue education for other language communities, which has resulted in almost  90% of South African children not being able to go to school in their own language; 

- give recognition to the previous generations’ struggle to establish Afrikaans as a language of education in the midst of difficult circumstances; - believe that education in one’s own language also conveys values and culture; 

- express our appreciation for the Afrikaans school community that has established an outstanding school system; - believe in the authority of governing bodies that give parents the right and responsibility to make decisions regarding their children’s education; - reject the idea of state schools where decisions about schools are made centrally;  

- are deeply disappointed in the state's inability to build new schools during the past 30 years and in its attempts to lay its capacity challenges at  the door of already overcrowded Afrikaans schools; and 

- we believe not only in Afrikaans or even mother-tongue teaching, but in good education, democratic decision-making and cultural transmission. 

Therefore, we reject: 

- any attack or limitations on mother-tongue education in general and specifically on Afrikaans; 

- the BELA legislation which tends to give the state more power in general over our schools, thereby seriously undermining and destroying  parents’ authority; 

- sections 5 and 6 of the BELA Act in particular which give the head of education the right to prescribe to schools regarding language and  admissions; and  

- the Gauteng Department of Education’s hostile attitude towards Afrikaans schools.  

Therefore, we have decided on the following course of action: 

- to do everything in our power to protect the excellence of Afrikaans schools; 

- to promote mother-tongue teaching in general, in order to promote excellent teaching in all language communities; - to support efforts that allow children to learn a third language, at least on a functional level; 

- to protect Afrikaans schools and Afrikaans in schools with everything in our power; 

- to fight the centralist character of the BELA legislation and specifically sections 5 and 6; 

- to actively participate in negotiations with the government and parties in the Government of National Unity to amend the BELA Act;  - to specifically ask the DA and FF+ to reconsider their participation in the Government of National Unity if the BELA Act Is implemented in its  current format; 

- to proceed with court action if the BELA Act is implemented in its current format; and 

- to support the development of independent schools as complementary to the Afrikaans public school system. 

In light of the above, we demand that: 

- more should be done to promote mother-tongue teaching in general, and specifically within the legal framework; - governing bodies’ and therefore parents' right to make decisions regarding their children’s schools are restored; - the collaborative model which has been the core pillar of basic education for almost 30 years is protected; 

- sections 5 and 6 of the South African Schools Act be restored and that sections 4 and 5 of the BELA Act be scrapped; - sections 4 and 5 of the BELA Act are not implemented, pending the above processes; and that 

- consideration is given as to how norms and standards, regulations and amendments to the law can give effect to the above. For our language community, mother-tongue education in our schools and for our children is a red line.

ENDS

Issued by Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive, Solidarity, 5 November 2024