The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s directive to have Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube fully implement the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (BELA Act) with immediate effect.
This follows a decision by Parliament’s clearing house, where all parties agreed that the BELA Act should not be sent back to Parliament to make changes to the sections that were in contention.
Sadtu spokesperson Nomusa Cembi says they are confident that the act will stand in court should it be challenged.
“We believe that these sections they were put in place to take forward the transformation of education in South Africa. And also, they were aligning with the previous Constitutional Court rulings that had been made regarding admission policies and language policies in schools. So, these clauses were aligning to the previous court rulings. We believe that these clauses do stand the test of the courts.”
President Ramaphosa has signed the Presidential Proclamation to bring the act into operation today.
“The Government of National Unity clearing house participants agreed that the act should be fully implemented. This view was endorsed by the leaders of the parties to the GNU in a meeting I held with them today. I accordingly advised them that I would proceed to sign a Presidential Proclamation to bring the Basic Education Law Amendment Act, the BELA Act, into operation from today.”
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