The opponents of this legislation, especially the DA, have sought without success to paint this bill as an attempt to centralise power in the hands of officials and castration of Afrikaans as a language, which it knew was not true. When it realised this was false, it sought to paint the bill negatively on account of what it called inadequate public participation.
I will not speak for the National Assembly committee, but from our side as the National Council of Provinces and the select committee, everything humanly possible was done, and more than 30,000 written submissions were received.
There were two sessions of oral submissions where various stakeholders made inputs. This was despite similar processes were entered into by provincial legislatures. The select committee even extended the date for written submissions in January with a media statement circulated widely.
Therefore, any negativity around the Bela bill is unfortunate and tantamount to narrow-mindedness. And the committee would thus urge the opponents of this bill to go and read it with understanding.
The minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga, had clarified on occasion that the bill contained court recommended amendments. “The department did not wake up and decide that it needed to have a good bill. This is the third admin dealing with this bill and some clauses have had to be deleted. The bill is more of an administrative and management of schools’ bill, not curriculum,” she once said.
During the submissions, the running of schools was raised and so issues that concern assessors, home schooling, CAPS competency of educators, grade R compulsory attendance, central procurement, pupil pregnancy, pupil suspensions, etc.
ELLECK NCHABELENG | Opposition to Bela bill not informed by reality nor merit
Image: GCIS
The National Council of Provinces has supported the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill with an 8-1 split taking it a step closer to being passed as legislation.
Despite much noise and misrepresentation as to what the bill is about, all committee members and mostly those who joined from provincial legislatures were in agreement about the need for and importance of the bill.
The select committee on education is thus satisfied with the public participation processes it had undertaken and those undertaken by the department. No South African was left outside.
As it turned out, the protest and petitions that have been circulated by interested groups were a mere misrepresentation from people who did not read the bill, or, at the very least, did not understand it.
The bill is a comprehensive articulation of how schools are to be managed and administered – any other description is misrepresentation.
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The opponents of this legislation, especially the DA, have sought without success to paint this bill as an attempt to centralise power in the hands of officials and castration of Afrikaans as a language, which it knew was not true. When it realised this was false, it sought to paint the bill negatively on account of what it called inadequate public participation.
I will not speak for the National Assembly committee, but from our side as the National Council of Provinces and the select committee, everything humanly possible was done, and more than 30,000 written submissions were received.
There were two sessions of oral submissions where various stakeholders made inputs. This was despite similar processes were entered into by provincial legislatures. The select committee even extended the date for written submissions in January with a media statement circulated widely.
Therefore, any negativity around the Bela bill is unfortunate and tantamount to narrow-mindedness. And the committee would thus urge the opponents of this bill to go and read it with understanding.
The minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga, had clarified on occasion that the bill contained court recommended amendments. “The department did not wake up and decide that it needed to have a good bill. This is the third admin dealing with this bill and some clauses have had to be deleted. The bill is more of an administrative and management of schools’ bill, not curriculum,” she once said.
During the submissions, the running of schools was raised and so issues that concern assessors, home schooling, CAPS competency of educators, grade R compulsory attendance, central procurement, pupil pregnancy, pupil suspensions, etc.
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These are all important things when considering the future and quality of SA’s education. Reality in SA is that pupils come from many different countries and some are not documented. So practical are the challenges in the schooling sector, that the department has no luxury of time to fold its arms and not propose amendment to legislation.
The opposition to the Bela bill is neither informed by reality nor merit, but for the sake of opposing it. What reasonable excuse is there for anyone to oppose compulsory attendance of grade R? Or even better, what reasonable excuse is there for anyone to oppose the SGB deciding the language policy of the school in line with the locality a school is situated at? More and more parents are opting for home schooling and this is their children’s right, but the department needs to ensure quality and compatibility with the curriculum public schooling is offering.
Members have reason to be satisfied about the bill, given that the process started way back in 2017. So satisfying is the feeling that the bill was not approached from a sentimental side of things. Parliamentary legal adviser, Phumelele Ngema, assured members of the committee that the Bela bill was perfectly fine and if it were to be litigated against: “It will pass the constitutional test.”
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