Outcry against BELA prompts president to allow further talks

13 September 2024

President Cyril Ramaphosa did indeed sign the BELA Bill today, but pressure from various sides and the key role played by parties such as the FF Plus in the Government of National Unity (GNU) secured three months for further talks before the law will come into effect.

The FF Plus welcomes the President's decision.

This means that the law's controversial sections and provisions which seriously threaten language rights – particularly because it places all decision-making regrading schools' language and admission policies in the hands of provincial Departments of Education – are put on ice until then.

During talks with the President about BELA this week, the party leveraged its position in the GNU to voice its objection to BELA.

During the next three months' consultation process, the party will also use its influence as partner in the GNU to remedy the objectionable sections of the law for the sake of everyone's right to mother-tongue education.

The law was hastily steamrollered through the parliamentary process just before the general elections, and the fact that electronic education systems are not addressed at all makes it obsolete from the outset.

The law will cause needless uncertainty and disputes about clearly established rights and responsibilities relating to Basic Education. In addition, the recognition of the right to home-schooling is undermined by bureaucratic requirements.

During the upcoming talks, the FF Plus will do everything in its power to restrict the implementation of the objectionable parts of the law.

After that, the DA Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, will be responsible for ensuring that the regulations issued in terms of the law are drafted in such a way that they remedy the policy regarding schools' language policies and interference in school management.

The FF Plus will, as in this case, continue to leverage its position in the GNU to fight for all South Africans' rights.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 13 September 2024