The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) Secretariat has called for the immediate implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (Bela).
Despite particular opposition to clauses 4 and 5 of the Bela Act by the DA, which pertain to language and admission policies, the Secretariat urged the national and provincial education departments, including school governing bodies (SGB), to implement the Act as from when it was signed into law.
“The signed Act must be implemented effectively from the date of signing – September 13 – by the State President,” said the Sadtu Secretariat.
The union claimed that the suspension of clauses 4 and 5 by President Cyril Ramaphosa was unlawful and must be ignored.
Ramaphosa has since placed implementing the Act on hold for three months, calling for political parties to find an agreement on clauses 4 and 5.
“Admission policies and language were used to deny many access to some schools. They cannot be allowed to continue to do so for 30 years after the democratic breakthrough. Transformation is non-negotiable and all our members are called upon to be vigilant and report any resistance by any official or any school management to the Union so that the Union can take such intransigent officials to court to explain why the Act cannot be implemented,” said the Secretariat.
The union said it would remove Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube from office if Ramaphosa fails to take swift action against her as she boycotted the signing ceremony of the Act last month.
“Sadtu cannot be at the mercy of the DA and its deployee, the minister of Basic Education. Let us be clear with the president that Sadtu will not tolerate any provocation by the minister of Basic Education on this matter.
“The president must take action against the minister for defying him during the signing ceremony and if he fails, he must allow Sadtu to remove the minister out of her office. If the DA wants to leave the GNU, they should do so without delay,” said the Secretariat.
The DA’s opposition to the halted clauses of the Act is derailing the progress of the education system, said the Sadtu Secretariat.
“We cannot allow our transformation agenda to be derailed by agreements between the president and the DA.
“We are warning the president not to take us for granted. We fought against racism and discrimination, and any secret agreement to reintroduce white supremacy will be met with fierce resistance,” said the Secretariat.
Sadtu called upon the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) to firmly stand on the Bela Act.
Cosas’ newly elected national spokesperson, Bongani Mpungose, recently told “Newzroom Africa” that the organisation will march to Gwarube’s offices if the Act is not implemented.
“We are still having discussions on how we are going to make sure the Bela Bill is implemented by the end of this year. So far, we are having discussions that the minister of Basic Education should step down from her seat, because she has refused to sign and implement the Bill. We will be marching to her office,” said Mpungose.
The Star
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