Bela Act: ANC’s Potgieter says Gwarube ‘can’t decide what law to implement‘

ANC NEC member Febe Potgieter said Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube will have to implement the Bela Act, despite comments from her party, the DA.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bela Act into law on Friday. Afterwards, both DA leader John Steenhuisen and DA Federal Chair Helen Zille said that Gwarube will first have to issue norms, standards and regulations for the contested sections of the Act that deal with admission and language policies at schools.

ALSO READ: Zille warns that implementation of Bela Act will be delayed

ANC on Bela Act

However, at an ANC media briefing on Saturday morning, Potgieter said Gwarube can’t choose what laws she wants to implement.

“If [you’re] a minister, whether you’re from the ANC, the PAC or Rise Mzansi, you have to implement what is the law of the republic… You can’t decide what you implement and what you don’t implement,” she said.

Potgieter added that while she accepts there probably will be delays in implementing the Bela Act, she thinks Gwarube “will do the right thing”.

‘Not a threat to Afrikaans’

The NEC member also allayed fears that the Bela Act is a threat to Afrikaans.

She said all South African languages are protected in the country.

“So, Afrikaans shouldn’t single itself out from other official languages because it’s treated the same.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa signs Bela Act into law, suspended clauses resolved after consultations

In addition to that, the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) also has the responsibility to look at languages that have been disadvantaged. African indigenous languages have been disadvantaged because of apartheid.”

She said concerns about Afrikaans disappearing as a language are unfounded.

“It is one of the official languages. It’s spoken by a broader community than just the Afrikaner community. For them to isolate themselves, we think that is a problem, rather than them seeing themselves as part of that community of 12 South African languages.”

Bela Act: Equality and inclusivity

Potgieter said the Bela Act will prevent pupils from being excluded from schools.

“Over the last 30 years, we’ve had numerous occasions where students were excluded from attending schools on the basis of language or other policies.

Earlier in the briefing, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the Bela Act “dismantles remnants of apartheid-era practices” and allows for South Africa’s education system to be “rooted in equality and inclusivity”.

“We denounce baseless fear-mongering by those who oppose these progressive changes,” he said.

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