Bela Bill will immediately be taken to court if signed into law, says powerful lobby group

Question: You said that some of the more contentious aspects of the Bela Bill are already being implemented at some schools. Could you explain how this is happening?

Answer: Yes, this is a major concern. In recent weeks, Department of Basic Education officials in both Gauteng and the Northern Cape have visited four Afrikaans-speaking schools, particularly in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Upington. These officials are demanding that these schools admit non-Afrikaans-speaking learners, claiming that they are acting according to Bela.

Principals, who are employed by the provincial departments, have pointed out that, legally, language policy falls under the jurisdiction of the school governing body (SGB). However, the officials have disregarded this legal framework, simply issuing orders under the pretext of Bela.

Additionally, in Gauteng, officials have gone as far as visiting schools and physically measuring classrooms to assess their capacity. They concluded, wrongly, that certain schools could accommodate an additional 400 learners. For example, one school built for 750 students already had 1,200 students, yet the officials insisted that there was still room for more, completely disregarding health, safety and fire regulations.

In some cases, the officials stayed for two days, monitoring unoccupied classrooms and incorrectly assuming these spaces were available for new students. They failed to understand that open classrooms are often a result of scheduling based on subject choices, not excess capacity.

This reveals either ignorance of how schools operate or a wilful attempt to pressure schools to admit more students than they can safely handle. These four cases, spread across two provinces, are just the tip of the iceberg – there are likely many more similar incidents elsewhere.

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Q: There are two clauses in the Bela Bill, which, if amended, could resolve much of the contention. Can you explain which clauses these are and how they could help?

A: Clause 4 permits a provincial head of education to override the school’s language policy, which currently lies with the SGB. Clause 5 touches on the authority of provincial officials to control admission policies. We have made proposals to modify these clauses in a way that could facilitate compromise and consensus.

Our goal is to ensure that the final authority over language and admissions policies remains with the SGB, as these bodies represent the interests of the parents and the community, while provincial officials should act as facilitators rather than decision-makers.

Before the final draft of the Bill was passed by Parliament earlier this year, we had suggested these amendments. Unfortunately, they were not incorporated, but we believe amending these clauses is essential to preserving the balance between parental input, school autonomy and provincial oversight.

Read more: This is a critical time to defend democracy and the powers of school governing bodies in education

Q: Is the opposition to Bela primarily about protecting privileged schools and not sharing as our Constitution enjoins all of us to do?

A: The claim that opposing Bela is about protecting privilege doesn’t hold up when you look at the numbers. Out of approximately 23,500 schools in South Africa, only around 960 are single-medium Afrikaans schools, which represents just 4% of all schools. This is despite the fact that Afrikaans speakers make up nearly 13% of the population.

Many of these schools are not “white schools” any more – between 15-20% of learners at these schools are black, and they choose to be educated in Afrikaans. Moreover, these Afrikaans-medium schools are concentrated in areas like the Western and Northern Cape, where Afrikaans-speaking coloured communities are the majority.

Therefore, the opposition to Bela is not about race or privilege; it is fundamentally about the right to mother-tongue education, which is guaranteed under Section 29(2) of the Constitution.

Failed promises like Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s pledge to build 40 new schools in Gauteng (of which only four were completed, with one standing empty), have exacerbated the situation. Instead of addressing the broader issue of underperforming or overcrowded schools, the government is focusing on forcing additional learners into Afrikaans-medium schools.

This is not a sustainable or fair solution, as these schools are already over capacity. Expecting Afrikaans-medium schools to solve the problems caused by a lack of infrastructure and planning is unrealistic and shifts the burden on to a community that is not responsible for the broader failures of the education system.

The real concern is that forcing more learners into these schools will dilute and eventually erase the right to mother-tongue education for the Afrikaans-speaking community, including both white and coloured South Africans.

Read more: SA Teachers’ Union, DA urge Ramaphosa to reconsider Bela Bill before signing

Q: Is the implementation of Bela a national issue, or is it confined to specific provinces?

A: Bela is a national issue and will affect all provinces, although the impact will vary. The Western Cape, where the majority of Afrikaans learners are coloured, might see fewer immediate effects, especially since the DA, which governs the province, supports mother-tongue education and opposes Bela. However, even in the Western Cape, urban areas could face pressure to conform if the Bill becomes law.

The critical point here is that Bela gives provincial heads of education the final authority over school admissions and language policy. This kind of power can be easily abused, especially in provinces where there are only a handful of Afrikaans schools left, such as KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

The provinces where Afrikaans-medium schools will be most affected are Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West, Northern Cape, and the Free State. These areas still have a relatively high number of Afrikaans-speaking learners, and the pressure to admit non-Afrikaans-speaking learners will likely be most intense here.

The situation could quickly escalate if Bela is signed into law, leading to the dismantling of Afrikaans-medium schools across the country.

Read more: ​​Schools Bill is no betrayal, it’s a belated move to update the law

Q: Afrikaans appears to be thriving in media, society and culture. Does this not extend to Afrikaans language instruction in schools because one leads to the other?

A: While Afrikaans may seem to be thriving in media and culture, the reality for Afrikaans-language instruction is far more concerning. Just five years ago, there were over 1,500 single-medium Afrikaans schools. That number has dropped to 960, a decline of more than a third in just a few years.

These schools are becoming larger and more crowded as they attempt to accommodate the growing demand, but this expansion is unsustainable. For example, schools like Waterkloof High School now have 2,500 learners, even though the school was built for only 1,500 students. This overcrowding undermines the quality of education, and if Bela is passed, the situation will only get worse.

If the Bill becomes law, the few remaining Afrikaans schools in provinces with smaller Afrikaans-speaking populations could disappear within three years. In urban areas, where the demand is higher, the process will take longer, but the trajectory is clear – Afrikaans-language instruction will continue to shrink unless the community can defend Section 29(2) of the Constitution, which protects the right to mother-tongue education.

Read more: The school governance amendments in the Bela Bill are constitutional

Q: If President Cyril Ramaphosa signs the Bela Bill into law, will there be legal challenges, and on what grounds?

A: Yes, legal challenges are inevitable if President Ramaphosa signs Bela into law. Organisations like Solidarity and the SA Onderwysersunie (South African Teachers Union) have already indicated that they will take the matter to court.

The Trust for Afrikaans Education, which I represent, will also provide financial support for these legal battles. The main legal argument will be that Bela violates Section 29(2) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to mother-tongue education. By granting provincial heads of education the authority to override language and admission policies, Bela effectively nullifies this constitutional right.

The Bill undermines the principle of co-governance between the National Department of Education, provincial education departments, and school governing bodies. SGBs are legally constituted bodies meant to represent the interests of parents and communities, but Bela bypasses them, giving unilateral decision-making power to provincial officials.

This not only violates the Constitution but also destabilises a system that has functioned with checks and balances for years. In addition to the legal challenges, we have pledged active support for mother-tongue education initiatives, such as the pilot project in the Eastern Cape, which the former minister of education Angie Motshekga initiated successfully. DM