Minister targets quality education at Afrikaans schools that have become islands of excellence - An ideological wolf has been made the shepherd in education

4 October 2023

No sooner had the ANC used a majority vote to force through the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) on Tuesday 26 September than Minister Angie Motshekga revealed what her real agenda was.

According to Motshekga, concessions were made at the start of democracy - including who could control schools and what languages schools were allowed to use. Now, she says, this must be ‘corrected’. She denies that Afrikaans schools are under fire, but then goes on to claim that it is in fact Afrikaans schools that are causing the country’s education headache.

Minister Motshekga brazenly puts on different faces for different audiences when it comes to education policy. However, she should not venture to opine on constitutional matters and negotiations. As regards cultural diversity, Constitutional Principle XI sets the following requirement: "The diversity of language and culture shall be acknowledged and protected, and conditions for their promotion shall be encouraged." What is important to note is that these principles were included in the 1993 transitional constitution and its successor, the current Constitution of 1996. All of this was embedded in a thoroughly negotiated and commonly agreed on Solemn Agreement. However, in the ANC's search for a second transition and increased centralisation, their judgment sometimes lets them down, and they have to be repeatedly reminded of this in the courts. Any amendments to the letter and spirit of the Constitution must be dealt with thoroughly and on a legal basis and NOT founded on the whims of political ideologues who wish to cover up their own failures.

The ANC never misses an opportunity to attempt to attribute their failures to other causes. There is a new urgency to centralise the school landscape because the education embarrassment is taking on ever greater dimensions. The functional public schools too must now be centralised, because these are Afrikaans schools that have become islands of excellence in the morass of educational decay. They prefer to make everyone fail in line with the ANC's goal of substandard education for all.

Ever since 1994, the ANC government has kept gambling with the school system, implementing one ill-considered model after another. Afrikaans schools and professional educational institutions have been leading the way through the resultant educational wasteland and that is why they have been able to excel. In contrast, more than 80% of other schools are dysfunctional.

The Afrikanerbond responded in detail to Draft Bill B2-2022 (“Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill”). (See the link to the full comment)   A thorough and considered opinion was expressed but probably forms part of the 6000 to 9000 written submissions that were not properly considered.

An ideological wolf has been made the shepherd in education. The easy way out is to place education under even greater central control and create educational misery for all. Thirteen years ago already, in 2010, Minister Angie Motshekga admitted in the media that: -

"Poor skills in English are the biggest cause of the poor 2009 matric results."

"The majority of pupils, including matriculants, have to study in English - although it is not their home language."

"Students whose first language is not English struggle to express themselves in the language."

She admitted as long ago as 2010 that government policy to enforce English had failed tragically. Yet in 2023 she wants to take away schools' powers to determine their own language policies. In thirteen years, things have only worsened — but Afrikaans schools are being blamed.

It is blatantly obvious that the ANC leadership and the minister prefer to keep on gambling with basic education rather than seek long-term, sustainable solutions. This requires political will, though: a challenge that Motshekga and the ANC leadership are not equal to.

The Afrikanerbond will support other organisations and communities to stop the absurd, ill-considered and unworkable proposals of the Department of Education.

Read the Afrikanerbond's full comments on the draft legislation online.

Issued by Jan Bosman, Afrikanerbond Chief Secretary, 4 October 2023