The FF Plus will submit a minority report outlining the dangers of the BELA Bill to the Gauteng Legislature.
In addition to highlighting the Bill’s contempt for human rights, as enshrined in the Constitution, reference will also be made to the communal nature of education in terms of section 235 of the Constitution which deals with communities’ right to self-determination.
The decision follows yesterday’s irrational and unconstitutional adoption of the BELA Bill by the Gauteng Legislature’s Education Committee where the ANC used its numbers to steamroller it through.
The ANC is, however, bound to run into trouble in any future court proceedings aimed at stopping the Bill seeing as the FF Plus has very strong arguments against it.
The FF Plus has already pointed out, among other things, that the submissions by most of those who participated in the public hearings as well as numerous written submissions make it abundantly clear that the majority of parent and school communities in Gauteng are opposed to the BELA Bill.
The ANC ignored this majority of opinions in defiance of previous Constitutional Court judgements which require that public opinions are substantively reflected in any decision on policy and legislation.
The ANC, furthermore, also ignored the findings of the Education Committee’s own researchers who recognised the problems created by the BELA Bill in the draft mandate of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
These relate mainly to the substantial dilution of school governing bodies’ powers in determining public schools’ admission requirements and language policies, as well as the over-regulation of home-schooling.
In spite of all this, the ANC decided to ignore the draft mandate and adopt the Bill as is. By doing so, the ANC even disregarded the internal advice of the Legislature’s advisors.
There is no doubt that the ANC is in for a thrashing in the Constitutional Court should the President ratify the BELA Bill.
During the court proceedings, the FF Plus will testify how the ANC essentially captured the Gauteng Education Committee to impose its ideology of centralising the levers of power to gain more control – in this case, even over parental authority over the education of their children.
The FF Plus condemns with contempt the ANC’s actions and is fully convinced that a coalition government, with the FF Plus as governing partner, will take over Gauteng after the 2024 elections, which will fight the BELA Bill and the ideas it embodies until it finally collapses.
With the ANC out of the way, we can restore and rebuild Gauteng and our country.
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