Department of education officials who attended meetings between the ANC and Afrikaner organisations pushed back against proposals to amend controversial sections 4 and 5 of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act, arguing the two provisions were “sound”.
ANC representatives have been holding talks with AfriForum, Solidarity and the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) since President Cyril Ramaphosa put implementation of the disputed sections on ice for three months to allow for further consultation. The two provisions wrest the power to choose a school’s language policy from school governing bodies.
The Afrikaner organisations complain the two sections will undermine Afrikaans. Several meetings have been held, including one on Wednesday. The ANC delegation on Wednesday was led by ANC NEC member Fébé Potgieter-Gqubule and deputy minister of basic education Makgabo Reginah Mhaule.
In another meeting held behind closed doors on October 1, department officials — including Chris Leukes, who is part of the department’s legal team — said the legislation had to be amended to keep it up to date with developments in the legal sphere. At the same meeting, a senior basic education official allegedly told those present that implementing the contentious sections was a foregone conclusion — a comment that aggrieved the activists.
The officials were responding to presentations from the Afrikaner groups.
Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann is said to have told the meeting the Bela Act was an attack on the soul of Afrikaners, arguing that having Afrikaans as a medium of instruction was important to the community.
The group threatened to suspend development projects they run in poor communities if the government did not accede to their demands around the contentious law. These schemes, they warned, would be affected if the government proceeded with the version of the Bela Act passed by parliament.
An official from the department, James Ndlebe, took issue with the organisations bringing up their involvement in community projects and making threats to suspend their involvement in them, and allegedly told them to stick to education matters.
He allegedly said 87% of pupils in the country did not receive mother-tongue education and merely wanted what Afrikaans learners have, and that implementing the suspended clauses was “a foregone conclusion”.
[The] Bela [Act] states that, should a school disagree with a decision by the HOD, it may appeal to the MEC. The MEC is the same MEC Chiloane who has unequivocally stated he wants to destroy Afrikaans single-medium schools.
— Dirk Hermann, Solidarity
According to sources at the gathering, the SAAI’s Theo de Jager said the organised Afrikaner cultural community was focused on community development and sustainability. This enabled the Solidarity movement and its institutions to co-operate with any group freely and without hindrance.
De Jager referred to ongoing efforts in the fields of agriculture and water service delivery in destitute parts of the country and mentioned ongoing discussions with government departments aimed at identifying joint projects to be embarked upon.
He warned, however, that the Bela Act would hamper all the work being done.
Hermann is believed to have raised unhappiness about statements allegedly made by Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi and his education MEC, Matome Chiloane, which compared the Bela Act to a weapon that must be used to destroy single-medium (Afrikaans) schools.
“[The] Bela [Act] states that, should a school disagree with a decision by the HOD, it may appeal to the MEC. The MEC is the same MEC Chiloane who has unequivocally stated he wants to destroy Afrikaans single-medium schools.”
Basic education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga confirmed the leadership of the Afrikaans community had threatened the government with withdrawing their support for various projects.
Mhlanga said threats to withdraw support for projects were first made in April in a meeting with former basic education minister Angie Motshekga about the Bela Act.
“They presented a view, before [the] elections, that they are running programmes in various municipalities which are assisting government. The same happened when they came back again,” said Mhlanga.
Mhlanga denied Ndlebe had said implementing the two clauses was a foregone conclusion. However, he confirmed the senior official had frowned upon the organisations making references to initiatives they ran elsewhere which had nothing to do with the Bela Act.
“Everywhere we go, Ndlebe always says, ‘I am an educationist — I don’t do politics. Let’s focus on the Bela Bill. Don’t bring up other issues.’”
Mhlanga said Mhaule had met the organisations in her capacity as an ANC member.
However, Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, denied leveraging community projects in the negotiations, saying they would never allow the Bela Act to get in the way of a principled approach to building grassroots co-operation.
“That’s not true at all,” he said on Friday.
Kriel said he had driven from an event addressed by the Zulu royal King Misuzulu in Middelburg, where the monarch had spoken about co-operation with AfriForum on specific projects, especially in rural and poor communities.
This, he said, was based on AfriForum’s core principle of building mutual recognition and respect between communities.
“Irrespective of what happens on the political level, we remain fully committed to working with our partners such as the AmaBhele community in the Eastern Cape and Barolong Boo Seleka,” said Kriel.
“There are those trying to portray us as using our projects with communities as a ransom ... [but] that is not true.”
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