Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube, who did not attend the signing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill into law, has three months to provide solutions to concerns the DA and other parties have raised about the new law.
“I do not want problems, I want solutions from government of national unity [GNU] partners,” Ramaphosa said in an engagement with the media on Friday.
However, DA leader John Steenhuisen was emphatic when replying to a question during a Cape Town Press Club function on Thursday that Gwarube would be obliged in terms of the rule of law to implement the act. News24 has also quoted Gwarube herself as saying she would definitely implement it even though she disagreed with it.
The DA said earlier it had instructed its lawyers to keep preparing for court action on both the process leading up to the signing of the bill and its substance on constitutional grounds.
Ramaphosa signed the bill but delayed the implementation of controversial clauses for three months to allow for further engagement.
“If the minister says I will not implement what is the law, she will be fired,” Ramaphosa also said.
AfriForum, Solidarity and Skoleondersteuningsentrum (SOS) have warned that they would continue with their court action if controversial provisions in the act were not amended.
These stipulate that provincial education department heads will have the final say on schools’ admission and language policies rather than schools’ governing bodies.
Ramaphosa, however, warned that “should the parties not be able to agree on an approach, then we will proceed with the implementation of these parts of the bill”.
“I have called on [GNU] parties to better communicate. We also now have a dispute resolution mechanism to discuss things before they become a crisis in the eyes of the public. If you listen closely to the minister, she says she will implement the law,” Ramaphosa said.
Steenhuisen said the DA rejected this threat by the president, which meant that “if there is no agreement, the ANC will proceed with implementing the clauses that empower provincial departments to override school governing bodies on the issue of the language policy of schools”.
We regard [Ramaphosa's] approach as contrary to the spirit of the statement of intent that formed the foundation of the GNU, which requires the participating parties to reach ‘sufficient consensus’ on divisive issues.
Steenhuisen said: “We regard his approach as contrary to the spirit of the statement of intent that formed the foundation of the GNU, which requires the participating parties to reach ‘sufficient consensus’ on divisive issues.
“If the president is serious about seeking a solution that will protect the constitutional right to mother tongue education, we welcome his announcement of a three-month delay in the implementation of clauses 4 and 5 of the bill. If this is just a delaying tactic to defuse opposition before implementing the clauses at a later point, then we will continue to fight this bill with everything we have got, including in the courts.
“There could hardly be a more divisive issue in SA than the right to mother tongue instruction in schools where this right has been established for decades.”
Steenhuisen said Afrikaans-medium schools constituted less than 5% of SA’s schools and did not contribute to the crisis in education. “Turning them into dual-medium or English-medium schools will not help improve the quality of education for SA’s learners.
“The ANC government must stop violating the constitutional rights of parents and governing bodies in functional schools. Instead, the government should apply itself to improving the vast majority of poorly performing schools that teach through the medium of English throughout the country.”
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) parliamentary whip Steve Swart said that while the party welcomed the three-month extension “we still believe that the bill, as a whole, should have been referred back to parliament, given the vigorous opposition from the ACDP, other political parties, parents, religious leaders, civil society, community leaders, homeschoolers and school governing bodies.
“There are certain issues which are not covered in the extension, issues which in the main relate to homeschoolers and learner pregnancy. These are matters that are deeply concerning to the ACDP and many others. In this regard, we will consider all our options moving forward.”
In a statement, AfriForum, Solidarity and SOS welcomed the delay in implementation as a “tactical breakthrough” and as a win for Afrikaans communities.
“The president’s announcement in this regard follows discussions between AfriForum, Solidarity and the president on Thursday, during which the organisations requested the president not go through with the implementation of these articles,” Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said.
“Although the danger posed by this law has not now been fully averted, it creates room for further discussions. AfriForum, Solidarity and SOS’s legal team is still ready to fight the case in the courts should these discussions lead to nothing. If there are no changes, we will continue with our court action. We are going to keep up the pressure.”
Ramaphosa said the act was meant to address cases of pupils being denied admission to schools because of their language policies; cases of children not being allowed back to school or to sit exams because their parents could not pay school fees; and great disparities in norms and standards, governance and access to resources.
“The law seeks to align the role of the school governing body in determining language and admission policies with the responsibility of provincial education departments to ensure the constitutional right to basic education. It seeks to ensure uniformity and fairness in educational standards across all schools,” he said.
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