AfriForum will oppose Education Bill and targeting of Afrikaans schools

8 September 2022

In response to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga’s, comments in the National Assembly yesterday, AfriForum reiterated that the organisation will do everything possible to defend school governing bodies’ right to decide, among other things, on schools’ admission and language policy. This is also the case in the organisation’s comprehensive comments on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) submitted in June 2022 and emphasized in communication with the minister.

According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, with Motshekga’s statements that the rights of governing bodies as protected in current education legislation are outdated, Motshekga has once again proven that the so-called BELA Bill does not focus on the promotion of quality education, but on the destruction of Afrikaans as a language of instruction and greater centralization of power in the hands of the state.

“Parallel or dual-medium teaching in schools inevitably leads to monolingual teaching in the strongest language, which in the case of South Africa will be English. This has been repeatedly proven locally and internationally but is concealed by the department. It is the right of children to have access to mother-language education. In recent decades, little has been done apart from lip service to make this right possible for more South African children in all indigenous languages – on the contrary, Afrikaans schools are constantly under pressure to anglicise. The minister is making this an issue of race and, for the sake of convenience, ignores in her ideological battle the fact that Afrikaans speakers belong to all races. A choice for Afrikaans education is not a choice to favor a particular race,” says Bailey.

AfriForum’s comments on the BELA Bill clearly show that the current legislation is aligned with the Constitution, in contrast to the proposed new provisions. “If these amendments are implemented, it will be an irreparable, unilateral and permanent breach by the ANC government of the constitutional settlement of 1994,” Bailey adds.

It is expected that the public will also have the opportunity to provide oral input on the planned legislation. AfriForum encourages all stakeholders to make use of it when the department makes information about these opportunities available. If opposition fails, AfriForum is ready to take legal action against the legislation.

Statement issued by Alana Bailey, Head: Cultural Affairs, AfriForum, 8 September 2022