By Simon Nare
The ANC’s tripartite alliance partners are taken aback by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to delay two clauses of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill despite signing it into law on Friday.
Cosatu in a statement said it was caught off guard by Ramaphosa’s decision to delay the clauses given that he had come out on Wednesday stating that he would sign the Bill into law despite legal threats from some political parties.
“This is an about turn that Cosatu could not have foreseen,” the federation said in a statement after the signing of the Bill into law.
However, it said it appreciated that the president had set a time limit of three months during which parties could engage further on the two clauses that pertained to school admissions and language policy.
“He made it clear that he did not expect the deliberations to be open-ended but wanted them finalised in three months. It is critical that any further proposals enhance the progressive objectives and clauses of the BELA Act. We would not countenance any weakening of this long overdue common-sense Act,” it said.
SACP spokesman Dr Alex Mashilo told Inside Politics that the party was displeased that the president had delayed what he described as two important clauses of the Bill.
“There is no way we can be happy. The president was supposed to have signed it into law and not delay some clauses. That Bill was passed in Parliament and represents the majority,” said Mashilo.
Cosatu said it was on hand to assist in any way to ensure that the Bill was implemented in its entirely in three months as it would its teacher union affiliate Sadtu.
For now, it welcomed the implementable parts of the Bill.
“However, the federation remains concerned about the Department of Basic Education’s over reliance on learner numbers as the criteria for closing or merging schools.
“We urge the department to consider pupils in farming and remote rural areas who live far from schools and include additional criteria such as the distance learners must travel to school and the availability of scholar transport when deciding,” it said.
INSIDE POLITICS
