AfriForum, Solidarity give Gwarube and Ramaphosa 10 days to resolve Bela Act dispute

Solidary, AfriForum and the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools (SCS) have given Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube and President Cyril Ramaphosa 10 days to resolve the dispute on the Bela Act.

The president assented to the Act in September last year amid criticism from the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) and AfriForum, among other parties.

The parties had reservations about clauses 4 and 5 of the Act, which give the Basic Education Department control over admissions policy and compels the school governing body to submit the school’s language policy to the provincial head of department for approval.

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Ramaphosa gave the parties three months to reach a consensus on the clauses, before the Bill was fully implemented.

In December, after the three-month consultation period, Ramaphosa signed a Presidential Proclamation to bring the Bela Act into operation. He further instructed Gwarube to fully implement the Act.

Bela Act dispute

On Thursday, AfriForum, Solidarity and the SCS announced plans to legally challenge the promulgation of the Bela Act.

They accused the president of acting “irrationally”, after going against Gwarube’s recommendations on clauses 4 and 5 of the Bela Act.

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Gwarube recommended that the implementation of the language and admissions policy be postponed due to the absence of appropriate norms and standards.

However, according to the organisations, Gwarube also acted irrationally by signing the promulgation notice.

“AfriForum, Solidarity and the SCS, all part of the Solidarity Movement, have already sent legal letters to Ramaphosa and Gwarube respectively, wherein it is shown that signing the promulgation notice was irrational,” said the organisations.

“In terms of the legal letters, the minister and the president have 10 days to resolve the dispute. If there is no resolution, the parties have no other choice than to approach the court.

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“It appears that the president’s irrational promulgation of the Bela Act in its entirety succumbed to the political pressure from the anti-Afrikaans elements within the ANC,” said Leon Fourie, CEO of the SCS.