The fight over the implementation of the Bela Act reached the high echelons of the ANC as senior party leaders pushed back against the consultation process at the national working committee (NWC) meeting this week.
So contentious was the issue that Deputy President Paul Mashatile put his foot down, telling his comrades that they no longer had a majority and were bound to listen to grievances raised by their partners in the government of national unity.
The Sunday Times can reveal that senior ANC leaders, including deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane and minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, expressed their opposition to the act having been discussed by the clearing house — a deadlock-breaking mechanism for the GNU. The clearing house is chaired by Mashatile.
They are believed to have argued that the Bela Act should not have been taken to the clearing house as it was a parliamentary matter that South Africans assented to during the public participation process.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa signed it into law but delayed implementation of clauses 4 and 5, he did not give the clearing house a mandate to discuss it, they said.
Ramaphosa gave political parties, civil society and professionals until December to iron out their issues on the two contested sections, which limit the powers of school governing bodies. The ANC has held meetings with groups opposed to the two clauses, including AfriForum and Solidarity.
Mashatile told the NWC meeting that the ANC did not win an outright majority and could therefore no longer throw its weight around
The matter was a hot potato in the clearing house last week, when almost all the ANC's GNU partners argued that the two sections could not be implemented in their current form.
The meeting agreed to establish a mini committee that would come up with a solution to the stalemate and report back in two weeks.
But this gave rise to heated discussion in the NWC, where members argued that the two sections should simply be implemented with immediate effect.
They argued that the ANC should not give in to pushback from people standing against what they called the deracialisation and the decolonisation of the education sector.
But Mashatile told the NWC meeting that the ANC did not win an outright majority and could therefore no longer throw its weight around.
“Mashatile was clear that the clearing house would discuss this matter and give an ear to its GNU partners,” said an NWC insider.
But some NWC members were adamant that Mashatile was wrong in his approach, saying it undermined the parliamentary public participation process. “It must be signed, those clauses must be reinstated,” said one.
“That matter doesn’t even require a clearing house because it was not any of the political parties, there were community organisations that have been meeting with the ANC on this matter. It wasn’t started by this GNU administration.”
The NWC is believed to have also pushed for ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to form part of the GNU clearing house, allegedly to Mashatile’s dismay. They argued that if the DA’s Helen Zille insisted on being part of the committee, Mbalula should also be a member.
Mashatile is said to have been steadfast in arguing against those who wanted to remove the matter from the agenda of the clearing house.
“Which is crazy, that’s irresponsible. This thing is not a product of the ANC, there was public consultation over years. There were public hearings in South Africa,” said a senior ANC leader.
“If we cower on this thing ... it will mean we have no intention of promoting integration, of decolonising and deracialising the education system. If we cower on such an issue, what about the decolonisation of the entire education system?”
DA members staged a march alongside the conservative Afrikaner trade union movement Solidarity at the Voortrekker Monument, during which the juxtaposition of the blue of the DA and the orange of Solidarity raised eyebrows for its resemblance to the old South African flag, angering some ANC members who said the party would be regressing in its fight to transform the education sector if it gave in to opposition demands.
“[By giving in] we’ll be discriminating against a majority that finds itself in exclusive white suburbs. That’s why that march went to the laager because for them it’s about self-preservation.”
Though some parties are said to want to send the entire bill back to parliament, the ANC and the IFP believe differences should be dealt with in the regulations.
The two parties believe sending it back to parliament would undermine the authority of not only the president, who has signed it in to law, but parliament as well.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa told the Sunday Times the bill could not go back to parliament and his party would support a call to include regulations that would address the problems.
“It will be unlawful to send the bill back to parliament, it's been signed. So if you want any changes within the act now you will have to reintroduce new legislation in its entirety, it's not a simple matter of sending it back to parliament. There would have to be a legislative process, an amendment bill, which would take years for you to do.”
Mashatile's spokesperson Keith Khoza said the committee of five appointed by the clearing house to find solutions to the stalemate is expected to submit a report this week.
“The committee ... has met and they looked into all the matters and there's progress they've made. They are going to be returning to the clearing house with a report which will be taken to the heads of parties led by the president.
“So at this stage we are waiting for that process and they will consider what has been proposed and that will determine the outcome. This coming week is the second week so that report will be submitted this week,” he said.
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