The GOOD party has cautioned against Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube’s move to reach an agreement with the Solidarity union on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act.
The Patricia de Lille-led party said this agreement should be taken with a pinch of salt, adding that Minister Gwarube “appears to have overlooked the fact that it is the DA’s coalition partners in the Government of National Unity [GNU] she must convince on proposed changes to the law – not Afrikaner nationalist organisations outside of government”.
The Minister together with Solidarity stated that they settled their differences on Wednesday at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) after the union had lodged a dispute concerning two sections of the BELA Act.
In September, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bela Bill into law, but later delayed by three months the implementation of clauses 4 and 5, which deal with school admissions and language.
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Ramaphosa took the decision following pressure from Solidarity, Afriforum and the Democratic Alliance (DA), among other organisations, to make room for more deliberations.
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General and Member of the GNU Clearing House Mechanism, said the contentious clauses of the BELA Act are “a mechanism to use the spatial injustice of the old Group Areas Act to continue to separate South Africans”.
“It creates room for the same ‘not-in-my-backyard’ attitude that the middle-class has used to block the development of affordable housing in areas previously reserved for white citizens”, Herron asserted.
The GNU Clearing House Mechanism, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, was established to address policy disagreements within the 10-member GNU regarding policy agreements and other disputes.
A task team was recently formed to address concerns raised by various parties regarding the BELA Act.
Herron also warned that Gwarube’s tactics undermine the multi-party GNU problem-solving mechanism, “the so-called clearing house under the leadership of the Deputy President”.
ALSO READ: GNU establishes task team to address BELA Bill concerns.
