Gauteng Education MEC urges Ramaphosa to sign Bela Bill despite opposition

Gauteng MEC for Education, Sport, Arts, Culture, and Recreation Matome Chiloane has encouraged President Cyril Ramaphosa to proceed with signing the Bela Bill into law, despite opposition and legal action threats.

On Friday, Ramaphosa will be holding a public signing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) at a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Tshwane.

Bela Bill, a source of contention in the education sector

The bill has been a source of contention within the education sector with the belief that it gives the government excessive powers over the futures of children and their parents.

Some of the key amendments in the bill include:

• Making Grade R compulsory, ensuring that all children receive early childhood education and are better prepared for formal schooling.
• Holding parents accountable for ensuring that their school-going-aged children are enrolled in school
• Criminalising the disruption of school activities, ensuring that learners can study in a safe and focused environment.
• Compelling SGB members to declare personal or financial interests to promote transparency and prevent conflicts of interest in school governance.
• Empowering the HOD to investigate the financial affairs of schools when irregularities are suspected, ensuring that school funds are managed properly and benefit learners directly.
• Imposing penalties for submitting false or forged documents during the admission process, protecting the integrity of the admissions system, and ensuring that all learners are treated fairly.

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Civil rights group AfriForum threatened that it would proceed with legal steps as soon as Ramaphosa signed the Bela Bill.

The group said it believes the bill is an “attempt at cultural ethnic cleansing” by the government, as the implementation of the bill will “enable the destruction of a linguistic and cultural community’s schools, thereby jeopardising the group’s cultural existence.”

AfriForum, ActionSA threatens legal action

AfriForum made its announcement on Wednesday during a joint media conference by AfriForum, Solidarity, Solidarity Helping Hand, the Skoleondersteuningsentrum (SOS), and the FAK.

ActionSA said it was “disappointed but unsurprised” that despite opposition by civil society, teachers, and political parties, the Bela Bill will be signed into law.

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The party said it will consider legal action if the president signs it into law.

“It would seem that these protestations may have been ignored as the signing of this fatally flawed piece of legislation is set to be assented to by the President on Friday,” ActionSA said on Wednesday.

‘Announcement jeopardises the GNU’

“In service to learners, ActionSA will consider its options to repudiate the signing of this bill.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) went a step further by saying the President’s announcement jeopardises the GNU.

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Despite the opposition to the signing and threats of legal action, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) said it welcomes the bill as it will empower the Head of Department (HoD) to make critical decisions regarding school admissions and language policies.

The MEC said this is crucial in assisting the department to manage school admissions effectively and address resistance from certain School Governing Bodies (SGBs) that oppose transformation.

GDE supports signing Bela Bill into law

“We fully support the President in signing this bill into law. Changing demographics in our communities mean that it is unacceptable for schools to deny learners access to schools closer to their residence based on language,” Chiloane said on Thursday.

“If numbers dictate that a school must be changed to be a dual medium of instruction, that should happen without interference. Public schools serve the public, and no learner should be excluded.”

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