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Guidelines for the Bela Act were issued on Thursday, but no regulations have been gazetted by Minister Siviwe Gwarube.
Image for illustrative purposes. Picture: iStock
The legal fortitude of a set of guidelines issued by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube is under scrutiny.
An announcement on regulations governing the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act has been pending, but the minister chose a different option last week.
The minister issued guidelines on the Bela Act on Thursday; however, these guidelines have not been gazetted, as would be the procedure for regulations governing legislation.
Disputed Bela Act sections
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bela Act in September 2024, which amended certain sections of the South African Schools Act of 1996.
Sections covering language and admissions policies were hotly contested, but Gwarube’s guidelines reiterate that language and admission policies remain under School Governing Body (SGB) control.
Anti-Bela Act Protestors were adamant that section 4 and 5 of the Bela Act would give education department officials undue control over schools by mandating schools to have their language and admission policies pre-approved by government.
In the guidelines, Gwarube states that the document was approved after consultation with the Council of Education Ministers and instructed its distribution to all education administrators.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) was unhappy, accusing Gwarube of attempting to create confusion around sections 4 and 5 of the Bela Act and delaying the release of the full regulations.
“The law is clear that the minister is only allowed to make regulations, not guidelines, in terms of the Bela Act, and that is the very reason that Sadtu rejected these guidelines in the first place,” the union stated on Friday.
“Sadtu are adamant that the guidelines are worthless. We are well aware of their tactics trying to halt [the Bela Act’s] full implementation.
“We call on all our members who serve in the SGBs across the country to ignore these unlawful guidelines and demand for the implementation of the regulations,” the union concluded.
Language and admissions
The guidelines stipulate that language policy should be determined with pupils’ best interests in mind, while considering the offerings at other schools and optimal use of classrooms and resources.
On admissions, the guidelines advise that if a provincial department wishes to force a school to change policy, the department must allow the SGB an opportunity to dispute and discuss the change.
“The exercise of such authority must always be rational and informed only by all relevant factors,” state the guidelines.
Gwarube’s guidelines urge all parties to operate responsibly and in good faith to avoid litigation, adding that early planning was necessary.
“SGBs of public schools are strongly encouraged to take proactive measures as early as possible in the 2025 school year to ensure that their language policies comply with the requirements of section 6(5) of the SA Schools Act,” state Gwarube’s guidelines.
The Western Cape’s online admission window closed in April, and the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) online admissions window runs from 24 July to 29 August.
GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona recently told The Citizen that if the guidelines necessitated any changes to their system, it would be communicated to the public, but he referred specific questions on the guidelines to the national department.
Questions on the guidelines and the gazetting of regulations were sent to the Department of Basic Education, but no response had been received at the time of publication.
‘Heat under the pot’
The Afrikaans community has been the most vocal about the Bela Act and their belief that it would be used to hijack Afrikaans-only schools.
Wynand Boshoff, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) parliamentarian, welcomed restraints being placed on government officials who wished to meddle in schools’ affairs.
“As long as these guidelines remain in effect, an HoD [head of department ] will not have the authority to suddenly intervene in a school’s affairs without thorough consultation and reasonable consideration,” stated Boshoff.
He explained that the guidelines applied to the norms and standards, but warned that a future minister could make alterations at their discretion.
“The FF+ remains cautious as the heat under the pot in which the frogs are being boiled has only been turned down ever so slightly.
“Ultimately, the pot is still on the stove. The Freedom Front Plus remains fully committed to self-determination in education,” Boshoff concluded.
