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The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE’s) long history of hostile statements targeting Afrikaans single-medium schools serves as proof of how dangerous the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (BELA) would be in the hands of such officials 

These hostile statements by, among others, the Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, and his successor as MEC for Education Matome Chiloane are contained in a report by the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), which will be issued today.

According to Connie Mulder, head of the SRI, these statements, as well as the actions taken by the officials, offer enough reason to expect that the new powers granted to the GDE by BELA will be used aggressively against Afrikaans. 

“Consequently, BELA becomes like a brand-new axe in the hands of someone who has been itching for a long time to fell a precious tree. Afrikaans education is that tree.

“A pattern has emerged over recent years that shows how the Gauteng Department of Education, and specifically Lesufi and Chiloane, in reality consider Afrikaans single-medium schools as something that must be eradicated in the name of transformation," Mulder said.

In the report, the SRI also shows how this has already transpired in practice when the department unlawfully tried to place English learners at Hoërskool Overvaal in 2018.

Solidarity believes that the sections in BELA dealing with language and admission policy will therefore be used by the very same officials to instruct Afrikaans single-medium schools to offer dual-medium education from now on.
BELA’s wording on language need stipulates how sufficient consideration must be given to a school district’s language demography.

According to Mulder, this puts Afrikaans schools in the crossfire as no education district exists where Afrikaans represents more than 30% of the language requirement.

“Only about 5% of schools in the country are exclusively Afrikaans (is dit reg? Wat is Gauteng se syfer?). Under BELA, these single-medium schools will be destroyed to meet the so-called language needs of the district, unless a head of department is willing to protect the schools.

“We know the Gauteng Department of Education has failed dismally with the building of schools, and in Lesufi’s term of office as MEC for Education there was a negative growth in schools,” Mulder said. 

The report points out that after Lesufi’s term of office, there actually were nine fewer schools in Gauteng but approximately 300 000 more learners. 

According to Mulder, in order to revert to the learner-school ratio of 2009, the GDE will have to build 552 new schools immediately – not the 60 schools Lesufi claims are necessary to meet the growing demand for education in the province. 

Mulder also referred to the government’s failure to meet the demand for schools as an uncomfortable fact that Lesufi and others would like to cover up by capturing well-functioning Afrikaans schools.

Issued by Solidarity