Thinking that the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, made a U-turn on language and admission policies (Media24, 21 March 2024) is making an extremely limited concession out to be much more than it really is.
In fact, the political agenda behind the BELA Bill has never been this clear.
This controversial Bill was met with vehement opposition during the last phase of the public participation process.
After the National Assembly (NA) adopted it on 26 October 2023, it was referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Because of its impact on provinces, each province had to follow its own public participation process and provide feedback to the NCOP.
On Tuesday 20 March, the Minister and Director of Provincial Monitoring and Service Delivery, Mr James Ndlebe, briefed the NCOP’s Select Committee on Education, Technology, Sport, Arts and Culture on the feedback received. They had to try hard to stem the tide of opposition they experienced.
Minister Motshekga reiterated her claim that some children do not have access to education in their area while certain schools (referring to Afrikaans schools) are only half full.
In the past, the FF Plus challenged her to name the Afrikaans schools that are allegedly only half full, but she has failed to do so.
During his briefing, Ndlebe conceded that it would be impractical to require school governing bodies to draw up language and admission policies which have to be approved by the provincial head of department within sixty days.
So, he recommended that the NCOP should scrap this requirement. However, the department head still has the final say should a dispute arise. It is, therefore, not so much a U-turn as it is fancy footwork.
Ndlebe also referred to the United Nations (UN) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which stipulates that all children should have access to schools. It appears, however, that he read the Covenant very selectively.
Article 1 of the Covenant reads: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”
It is against this backdrop that article 13 of the Covenant guarantees the right to education, within a specific cultural context as well.
The SA Schools Act of 1996, which is amended by the BELA Bill, left the right to formulate language and admission policies in the hands of school governing bodies with good reason.
It is because education is an important cultural activity, and because the 1994 agreement would not have been adopted without recognising that. Moreover, section 235 of the South African Constitution guarantees the right to self-determination “within a territorial entity … or in any other way”.
Afrikaans schools fall under “in any other way”. Afrikaners are spread out across the country and so are their schools. So, the Constitution strikes a balance between the ban on discrimination, on the one hand, and the right to self-determination, on the other.
Therefore, schools with an overtly Afrikaans character do fall within the Constitution’s prescripts as long as they do not exclude anyone based on race or language.
Afrikaans schools have already implemented a process whereby certain schools are cleared out to ensure that the remaining Afrikaans schools are full. The Minister should not set up a man of straw – it is an obvious form of deception.
The Minister should expect much greater opposition if she continues to unilaterally deny this right.
