The Cape Forum is yet another civil society organisation that has threatened court action against President Cyril Ramaphosa who is expected to sign the the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill into law on Friday.
The Forum has indicated that it was opposed to the amendment bill as it was tantamount to “school capture”.
Ramaphosa is expected to sign the bill during a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Friday.
The Bela Bill amends sections of the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998 to account for developments in the education landscape since the enactment of the original legislation.
The DA, as one of the parties to the Government of National Unity, has also indicated that it was opposed to the bill.
On Wednesday, the Cape Forum called on coloured communities to not view the impending signing of the “draconian” Bela Bill as a matter that would only affect former model C schools, saying this fight was for every school and every household in South Africa, especially Afrikaans-speaking communities.
Heindrich Wyngaard of the Cape Forum said in a statement, following the announcement by the president’s office that the controversial bill would be signed into law today, that the Forum would turn to the courts with other organisations to stop this legislation.
“Our experience so far is that many communities may take a never-mind attitude towards Bela because the ANC created the impression that it is only former Model C schools, in other words, traditionally white schools, that oppose it.
“However, we know that this is not the case, as traditionally coloured schools can also be forced by the legislation to adjust their Afrikaans language policy to accommodate small numbers of non-Afrikaans-speaking learners,” said Wyngaard.
Bernard Pieters, head of community activation at Cape Forum, said the forum would not hesitate to make their voices against the bill through various means.
“We will make the Western Cape’s voice heard loud and clear. Today’s statement is the beginning of a bigger campaign against this legislation. The president is clearly out of touch with the people he is supposed to represent as president. He will simply have to hear how these plans will harm people at grassroots level,” Pieters said.
In May this year, the DA said should the bill be enacted, it would not hesitate to take court action against its implementation as the bill was meant to rob school governing bodies of the right to determine the admission and language policies of schools in their communities.
There are indications that the bill might have an effect on the GNU and some of its partners who are opposed to it.
On Wednesday, Ramaphosa met with his GNU partners. It was reported that part of the meeting was to gain consensus and possible buy-in from all the GNU partners.
DA leader John Steenhuisen indicated he was seeking an urgent meeting with Ramaphosa to discuss this.
The Star