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| Tshilidzi Bethuel Munyai. | Itumeleng English African News Agency (ANA) |
The Gauteng Portfolio Committee on Education (GPAC) chairperson, Tshilidzi Munyai, has been addressing the controversial clauses in the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill during a public hearing in Randfontein. Emotions ran high as community members submitted their views on the bill during the event. A member of the EFF told those gathered at the Randfontein Local Municipality Hall that black people who do not support Bela are "sell-outs", while a pastor remarked that it was "nonsensical" to expect poor communities to register their children for Grade R classes online. EFF and ANC members were in support of the Bill at the event, the second leg of public hearings on the Bill in Gauteng.
The Bela Bill hearings are scheduled to be finalized at the end of March, with the National Council of Province’s Select Committee on Education and Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture adopting the report. This comes after a similar process was conducted by the Basic Education Portfolio Committee, which adopted the Bela Bill report despite threats by the DA to challenge the process.
Concerned parent Tshepo Mtshiwana was unhappy that the document was thin on detail, comprising only 21 pages. He said Munyai’s committee had failed to provide detailed documents that would enable communities to make effective contributions. Chris Tshebe, who introduced himself as a leader and pastor, said he rejected the bill “in its entirety”. He said a clause referring to sex education was a proposal from “people from hell”. He said parents were being punished by the government.
Diledile Motsepe, who introduced herself as a homeschooling mother, said she “rejected the bill in its entirety”, especially the clause that requires parents to apply to the Department of Education to homeschool children. She said she removed her child from normal schooling because she could not find a school that taught Sesotho. She said children had the right to be taught in their home languages.
Turi Melusi, the EFF’s Tubi Melusi, said the party supported the Bela Bill, especially the clause making schooling compulsory from Grade R to Grade 12. He said there are parents who deliberately deny their children education. He said some schools were managed by power-hungry school governing bodies (SGBs). He said every learner who wished to study at a particular school in their home language should be allowed to do so and SGBs should not dictate which language should be used to study maths.
Evert du Plessis, a parent and DA member, objected to the Bill because of serious concerns as to whether schools would be able to cope with the influx of learners if Grade R were made mandatory. Du Plessis said the scarcity of resources and financial implications should be addressed before the Bill was approved. He felt that there was a greater need for consultation with the homeschool sector to determine their views and concerns.
Louis Nel, a parent and an attorney, said the criminalisation of parents of learners not in school was unjust. He said the need to assist parents, the community, the voiceless, the indigent, the impoverished who don’t have the knowledge and power and the electronic or social media platform we use. Rikus de Beer, who has 40 years of experience educating children, said he was concerned about the implications of the language policy on minority groups.
