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Although an overwhelming 80% of people in the Northern Cape have rejected the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill at public hearings throughout the province, the government seems hell-bent on forging ahead to pass a bill that will allow for learners from as young as 12 years to have abortions, that will see small rural schools closed down, and will nationalise the early childhood development (ECD) sector.
This is stated by the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), who marched to the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature (NCPL) in Kimberley on Wednesday, 17 April, in protest of the Bela Bill.
Jonathin Sukers, ACDP provincial leader, said if the Bela Bill is signed into law, it could likely cost the Northern Cape government up to an unplanned R2 billion per year to implement it.
The majority of South Africans rejected the Bela Bill mainly due to clause 35, which deals with home schooling, and clause 39 that sets out the prevention and management of learner pregnancy.
Sukers handed over the memorandum, supported by party members and members of the public, to the NCPL as a reminder of its constitutional duty to take into consideration the input made by the public during a lawmaking process.
“We further note that the impact to the ECD sector. who most of our communities and education entrepreneurs in townships are reliant upon, will be negatively impacted should this bill become law,” the statement read.
“The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has been working on this bill since 2013, and it was published for public comment nearly five years ago. Yet the bill as it stands is clearly not ready to be adopted into law.
“The bill, as it stands, envisages a centralised, state-centric solution, that only caters to Gr. R. This will strengthen the role of the state and secure posts for union members at the expense of the ‘Gogo Dlaminis’ that built the sector.
“No consideration seems to have been given to the legal implications of making Gr. R compulsory, and therefore potentially making independent providers subject to the registration requirements of the Bill of Rights, while tens of thousands of them are unregistered.”
The ACDP also stated that the increase in the penalty imposed on parents who fail to ensure their children are registered for schooling is anti-progressive and anti-poor.
In a media statement, Marie Sukers, ACDP MP, emphasised that the Bela Bill undermined the rights of parents and caregivers, and effectively rendered them mere passengers in the lives of their children – especially when it comes to making decisions on teenage pregnancy.
“Clause 39 of the Bill, which has been widely rejected by parents, aims to give the minister powers to make regulations which could/would make this policy law and, as a result, force a teacher to refer a learner for an abortion without their parents knowing about it.”
The ACDP, and the public, have consistently requested the minister to make these regulations public.
This request has not been heeded, yet the NCPL has taken the lead in adopting this bill despite the concerns of South Africans, Sukers stated.
