AfriForum urges DA and FF+ to withdraw from GNU over BELA Act

AfriForum has urged the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus to rethink their involvement in the Government of National Unity (GNU) if the Basic Education Amendment Laws (BELA) Act is not revised.

Despite opposition from GNU partners, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bill into law on 13 September at the Union Buildings in Tshwane.

DA AND FF PLUS’ STANCE ON THE BELA ACT

The DA and AfriForum have always been opposed to the BELA Bill and labelled it as an attack on mother-tongue education. The party also said signing the Bill into law threatens the Government of National Unity (GNU).

Likewise, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said the law was hastily steamrollered through the parliamentary process just before the general elections, and the fact that electronic education systems are not addressed at all makes it obsolete from the outset.

During the signing ceremony, Ramaphosa acknowledged the complaints from fellow GNU members.

He said he has engaged with them and will consult on clauses 4 and 5 of the Bill which are a concern.

“In the spirit of cooperation and meaningful engagement, I have decided to delay the implementation date for clauses 4 and 5 of the Bill by three months.

“This will give the parties time to deliberate on these issues and make proposals on how the different views may be accommodated. Should the parties not be able to agree on an approach, then we will proceed with the implementation of these parts of the Bill,” Ramaphosa said.

WHY DOES AFRIFORUM WANT THE TWO PARTIES TO RECONSIDER THEIR POSITIONS IN THE GNU?

AfriForum chief executive officer (CEO) Kallie Kriel said there is a group of anti-Afrikaans activists in the African National Congress (ANC), Gauteng government, and even politically driven senior officials in the National Department of Education who are acting contemptuously towards President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to create an opportunity for further deliberation on the BELA Act’s language clauses.

Kriel said the anti-Afrikaans group is openly out to derail constructive discussions and steamroll the implementation of the BELA Act in its current format and try to make any cooperation with the GNU impossible.

Further, Kriel indicated that should the BELA Act be fully implemented under the GNU, all those serving in the GNU would be complicit in the BELA Act’s assault on the survival of Afrikaans communities.

“Afrikaans speakers do not, like other cultural groups in the country, have large traditional areas in which their cultures are promoted and therefore Afrikaans schools play a central role in the survival of the respective Afrikaans cultural communities across the country. Precisely because of this, the fight against BELA is not just a fight against another law, but it is a fight for cultural survival,” he emphasised.