By Simon Nare
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has dismissed claims that allowing Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube to set norms and standards for language policy under the Basic Education Law Amendment Act was a compromise to secure Government of National Unity support for full implementation.
Mbalula told reporters on Saturday that the 1996 Schools Act empowers the minister to determine language policy norms and standards, making this a routine practice.
He said that the minister must implement the government’s decision or face consequences for non-compliance.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday approved the full implementation of the Bela Act following three months of negotiations among political parties in the Government of National Unity.
This came after the Democratic Alliance, a senior member of the GNU, and other parties raised concerns over the contentious Sections 4 and 5.
The sections address language and admissions in schools.
Reacting to the DA’s statement on Friday, which described the minister’s authority to determine norms and standards as a win-win outcome after three months of negotiations, Mbalula weighed in on the matter.
“The people who view the GNU as something else misunderstand its nature. In the ANC, we have always recognized it as a process involving collaboration with archrivals—people we fundamentally disagree with politically and ideologically,” said Mbalula.
“It’s not just about the Bela Bill; there will be other contentious issues. We’ve acknowledged that those in the GNU will want to use their positions to show they can govern better. As the largest party in the GNU, the ANC has the responsibility to demonstrate our ability to work for the community and deliver.”
Mbalula dismissed claims of easy victories as mere populism, accusing some individuals of trying to portray themselves as superheroes or revolutionaries on the matter.
However, Mbalula pointed out that the DA, despite being part of the GNU, was behaving like an opposition party.
“The DA is doing what it’s supposed to do as an opposition party. We can’t chase after Helen Zille every time she opens her mouth. She is fulfilling her mandate from her constituency,” he said.
Mbalula said that the ANC would not remain in the GNU forever and would rebuild to become a stronger party.
The DA, in welcoming the president’s approval for the full implementation of the Bill, described the outcome of the negotiations in the Clearing House Mechanism’s task team as a win-win compromise that allows the BELA Act to be implemented without undermining existing constitutional rights to mother-tongue education.
“Crucially, the President’s announcement on the implementation of the BELA Act clarifies that the Minister of Basic Education, the DA’s Siviwe Gwarube, is now tasked with developing regulations and norms and standards to govern the Act, including the contentious sections on language and admissions,” the party said in a media statement.
The statement continued: “We have full confidence in Minister Gwarube’s ability to introduce fit-for-purpose guidelines that will protect school autonomy from subversion. The fact that a sober-minded DA Minister is tasked with this critical work is a vindication of the DA’s role in the GNU as the champion of constitutional rights, including the right to mother-tongue education.”
In one of the past three months’ discussions, the Pan South African Language Board said: “Afrikaans is not going to disappear. It is spoken by several communities in the country, and they should not isolate themselves.”
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