By Edwin Naidu

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube’s non-show at the signing ceremony for the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill was not a slap in the face of President Cyril Ramaphosa but a show of a middle finger to South Africa.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, the ministers, united under the banner of the Government of National Unity (GNU), have pledged to serve all the people of South Africa. The collective responsibility provides a strong sense of reassurance to the citizens. Gwarube, in taking the job, said she would put the nation first. But at the first sign of pressure from her own party, she wilted.

Minister Siviwe Gwarube during The Swearing-in Ceremony of the new National Executive at Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town, where she vows to serve the people and the country. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers / July 3, 2024

Regardless of their unity in purpose, all government officials should be held accountable to the taxpayers and the president who appointed them. Gwarube’s indulgence in party-political theatrics is not a display of power dynamics but a blow to the future of the country’s education system. It’s a stark reminder that the citizens, who ultimately pay the pipers, do not call the tune.

Certainly, for years, that’s how we’ve had it with ANC leaders motivated by greed, calling the shots without a care ad remembering voters mainly during costly imbizos. Why should it be any different in a GNU?

The ANC’s chastening in the 2024 elections has birthed the country’s second GNU, generating a positive global response while the majority’s status remains unchanged. Inequality, unemployment and poverty alleviation remain pressing challenges 30 years after the first GNU. Regarding education, the Bela regulations will enable millions of learners nationwide to access quality education.

But who cares about the children when adults who are supposed to display leadership play like adolescents? Nobody but the lawyers who could spend years in court fighting over the Bela Bill win while those who should benefit are denied the Constitution’s promise of a right to education.

It was no surprise when cracks in the GNU honeymoon surfaced, not for the first time, when Gwarube, like a petulant child, boycotted the family function to sign the bill to give children better education opportunities hosted by her boss, South Africa’s representative, Ramaphosa.

It was surprising because Gwarube had promised to put the nation first during her appointment. But instead of doing what matters for the people, she chose to obey the voice of her political master, Helen Zille’s DA. She says her non-attendance does not mean she was boycotting the signing.

Gwarube issued a sulking statement, clearly signalling that she would put her party first, contrary to the fighting talk about her appointment. She is playing petty politics.

She told Ramaphosa that she would not attend the signing ceremony because she had concerns about the constitutionality of provisions implementing admissions and language policies determined by the governing bodies of public schools.

As a black woman growing up under apartheid, Gwarube must be conflicted, mindful that the horrible legacy of the past is evident every day and cannot be waived away in three decades of democracy. The bill would go a long way in eradicating the legacy of Bantu education and separate policies under apartheid.

Gwarube has identified some of the system’s key challenges, namely, children’s inability to read and write or display numeracy skills by Grade 4, infrastructure inadequacies, especially the existence of pit latrine toilets and lack of proper sanitation, and poor safety and security at schools.

However, the sticking point over the Bela Bill highlights a fight to retain the old rights of one group over what benefits the country. Educators argue that if implemented, the bill could bring positive change.

However, the sticking points are the language and admissions policies, contested by the DA, white Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum and trade union Solidarity, which described the bill as an attempt at cultural ethnic cleansing by the ANC.

The University of Kwazulu-Natal’s Professor Vimolan Mudaly, in the College of Humanities at the School of Education, said the DA seemed particularly concerned about amendments to the school’s admission and language policy. The claim is that authority is being appropriated from the school governing bodies (SGBs) and thrust into the hands of the head of department in the province.

“There is a valid case that can be made for these amendments, and we must be wary of whose interests the DA is attempting to protect … Generally, SGBs have played a role in taking care of schools but not the academic and curriculum facets. Determining admission and language policy would require a substantive amount of training and I am not sure that we have arrived at that point yet. Secondly, with our past legacies of differences in language and admission policies, biases will prevail,” Prof Mudaly said.

The University of Kwazulu Natal’s Prof Suriamurthee Maistry said the new policy, especially around compulsory Gr R schooling, was a noble initiative as it would probably better prepare children for entry into formal school. But he said it needed to be backed up by appropriately qualified teachers, the availability of classrooms and teaching resources.

Another UKZN Professor, Wayne Hugo, said that while the bill brought much-needed tightening of regulations and clarity, for example, the policy on corporal punishment, the most significant concern that seemed to be getting lost amid the noise was the mooted R16 billion costs of implementing the clauses.

With Treasury cutbacks threatening teachers’ jobs, he asks where the money would come from to make the Bela Bill work.

Thirty years after democracy, some Afrikaans medium schools remain all-white regarding learner enrolment. It seems as if Gwarube and the DA wish to protect the apartheid status quo.

Unlike the Biblical father of the prodigal son, Ramaphosa must not open the door to another slap in the face. He should find someone prepared to serve the nation without kowtowing to her masters who appear to be stuck in the past. Gwarube should come clean on why she did not attend the signing. Her behaviour betrays the people of South Africa.

* Edwin Naidu is a communications specialist and heads social enterprise start-up Higher Education Media.

** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media