12 August 2025

The African National Congress (ANC) Parliamentary Caucus is outraged by the Minister of Basic Education’s decision to drip-feed the regulations required for the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act through a staggered and drawn-out process. This is not only administratively irrational, but it is a blatant betrayal of the transformation agenda mandated by the people of South Africa.

The BELA Act was passed by Parliament after extensive public consultation and robust debate. It is now the law. The only task before the Department is to implement it in full, without delay. Yet, instead of acting with urgency, the Minister has chosen a piecemeal release of regulations, a tactic that can only serve to give space to reactionary forces opposed to equity and inclusivity in our schools. This calculated slow-walking of transformation is an insult to the millions of learners trapped in unequal schooling conditions. It undermines Parliament’s authority and erodes public trust in the government’s ability to deliver on its promises. Every day of delay is another day that inequality wins and transformation loses.

The ANC Caucus will not stand by while the future of our children is held hostage to bureaucratic games and political hesitation. We demand that the Minister immediately release the full set of BELA regulations for public comment, so that the Act can be implemented comprehensively and without further sabotage.

We call on parents, learners, educators, and civil society to stand with us in defending the BELA Act and exposing any attempts to derail it. Education is a constitutional right, not a privilege to be negotiated at the convenience of those resistant to change. The doors of learning must be opened now, not in some distant, politically convenient future.

Issued by the Whip of the ANC Study Group on Basic Education, Cde Tshepo Louw (MP)

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