To be able to speak one’s mother tongue, to have one’s children taught in their mother tongue, is the most fundamental of human rights.” President Cyril Ramaphosa - 21 Maart 2019. 

Nadat die ANC sy meerderheid gebruik het om die omstrede Wysigingswetsontwerp op Basiese Onderwys (BELA) goed te keur is dit nou in President Ramaphosa se hande om die wysigingswet te bekragtig. 

Telkens is transformasie voorgehou in die ANC se dringendheid in die proses. Transformasie vereis egter meer as net die ANC se rassyferspel. Transformasie vereis kwaliteit onderwys en opleiding. Kwaliteit onderwys kan nie deur sentrale inmenging voorgeskryf word nie en vereis die vennootskappe tussen skoolbesture en ouers en gemeenskappe. Die ANC se transformasie vereis egter dat amptenare vanuit die departement sal bepaal wat in die skool, die leerder en gemeenskap se beste belang is. Hiermee het die ANC van die begin af hulle ware kleure gewys. 

Die dringendheid voor die verkiesing saam met die Nasionale Gesondheidsversekering is egter ʼn demonstrasie van die ANC se paniek. Voor 1994 was die ANC se kreet “Liberation before education” – Dit het dertig jaar in die nuwe demokrasie plek gemaak vir politieke mag ten alle koste. Kwaliteit onderwys is gevolglik die prys wat die regime betaal vir die behoud van politieke mag.  

President Ramaphosa kan nou die wetsontwerp bekragtig of terugstuur vir oorweging. Met sy handtekening kan hy die regte van taal en kultuurgemeenskappe misken om self te besluit oor die taal- en toelatingsbeleid van ʼn skool. Dit is nie ʼn raskwessie soos wat die ANC voorgee nie. President Ramaphosa sal dan self moet bepaal of hy enigsins sy eie ondernemings en sienings nakom en of hy ter wille van korttermyn verkiesingsgewin nie toepas wat hy predik nie. 

Ons herinner President Ramaphosa graag aan sy eie woorde: 

“To be able to speak one’s mother tongue, to have one’s children taught in their mother tongue, is the most fundamental of human rights.” President Cyril Ramaphosa op Menseregtedag by die George Thabe sportgronde, Sharpeville op Dinsdag 21 Maart 2019. 

Om in Afrikaans of enige van die ander amptelike tale onderrig te word is dus ‘n fundamentele reg volgens die president, net soos wat ander taalgemeenskappe in Suid-Afrika die reg behoort uit te oefen. Dit is egter nie net in Suid-Afrika waar die reg geldig is nie. Dit word telkens gestaaf deur internasionale navorsing en ook Unesco: 

- Tans het 40% van die wêreldbevolking nie toegang tot onderwys in hul moedertaal nie. Met die wetgewing sluit Suid-Afrika sy oë vir die realiteit. 

- Volgens Unesco is 6 jaar se moedertaalonderrig nodig om leergapings vir minderheidstaalsprekers te verminder. Dit is waarskynlik die grootste misdryf van die ANC regering om onderwys te verengels.  

Die ANC laat geen geleentheid verby gaan om deurentyd sy eie mislukkings toe te smeer nie. Daar moet nou opnuut gesentraliseer word want die ANC se verleentheid met onderwys en meer as 80% disfunksionele skole word al groter. Ook die funksionele openbare skole moet nou gesentraliseer word want dit is Afrikaanse skole wat eilande van uitnemendheid in die moeras van onderwysverval geword het. Dan is dit volgens die ANC beter om eerder almal te laat verval om te voldoen aan die misplaaste transformasie. 

Dit is duidelik dat die ANC leierskap ten spyte van soveel mislukte beleide met basiese onderwys weer ʼn keer wil dobbel met onderwys met die oog op die 2024 verkiesing. Die vraag is of President Ramaphosa mans genoeg sal wees om op te staan vir die fundamentele reg waarin hy in 2019 geglo het en of hy nou in 2024 sal swig voor sy party se ondeurdagte drang na sentrale beheer en stemme in die verkiesing?  

Die reg van beheerliggame om taal en toelating te bepaal is nou op die spel. Daarom sal die Afrikanerbond ander organisasies en gemeenskappe ondersteun wat die onsinnige, ondeurdagte en onwerkbare wetgewing deur litigasie wil stuit.

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"To be able to speak one's mother tongue, to have one's children taught in their mother tongue, is the most fundamental of human rights." President Cyril Ramaphosa - 21 March 2019. 

After the ANC used its majority to approve the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA), it is now in President Ramaphosa's hands to ratify the Amendment Act. 

Time and again, the ANC has ascribed its urgency in completing the process to the need for transformation. However, transformation requires more than just the ANC's racial numbers game. Transformation requires quality education and training. Quality education cannot be dictated through central interference – it requires partnerships between school governing boards, parents and communities. However, the ANC's transformation requires that officials from within the department must determine what is in the best interest of the school, the learner and the community. With this, the ANC has long shown its true colours. 

The urgency ahead of the elections with the BELA Bill as well as the National Health Insurance clearly demonstrates the ANC's panic. Before 1994, the ANC's cry was "Liberation before education". Thirty years into the new democracy, this has translated into political power at all costs. Sacrificing quality education is the price exacted by the regime for the preservation of political power. 

President Ramaphosa can now either ratify the Bill or have it referred back to the National Assembly. With his signature, he can disregard the rights of language and cultural communities, to determine the right to decide on the language and admissions policy of a school. And this is not a race issue, as the ANC pretends. President Ramaphosa must decide today whether he will honour his own undertakings or whether he will choose not to practise what he preaches – all for the sake of short-term electoral gain. 

We remind President Ramaphosa of his own words: 

"To be able to speak one's mother tongue, to have one's children taught in their mother tongue, is the most fundamental of human rights." President Cyril Ramaphosa on Human Rights Day at the George Thabe Sports Grounds, Sharpeville on Tuesday, 21 March 2019. 

According to the President, therefore, being taught in Afrikaans, isiZulu, Tshivenda or any of the other official South African languages is a fundamental human right. The validity of this principle has, moreover, been repeatedly substantiated by international research and by Unesco: 

- Currently, 40% of the world's population do not have access to education in their mother tongue. With the BELA legislation, South Africa closes its eyes to reality. 

- According to UNESCO, six years of mother tongue education is required to reduce learning gaps for minority-language speakers. Anglicising education is one of the biggest betrayals that the ANC government has yet committed against the people of this country. 

The ANC continues to use every opportunity to cover up its own failures. Centralisation is now on the table, because the ANC's embarrassment with education and the more than 80% dysfunctional schools keeps growing. The functional public schools must now be centralised too, because it is the Afrikaans schools that have become islands of excellence in the quagmire of educational decay. The ANC would rather have the entire system become dysfunctional by making everyone comply with their misplaced transformation. 

Despite one failed basic education policy after another, it is clear that the ANC leadership is once more prepared to gamble with education with a view to the 2024 elections. The question is: Will President Ramaphosa be man enough to stand up for the fundamental right he defended in 2019, or will he succumb in 2024 to his party's ill-considered push for central control to gain votes in the elections? 

The right of governing bodies to determine language and admission is now at stake. The Afrikanerbond will accordingly support other organisations and communities that want to stop the nonsensical, ill-considered and unworkable legislation through litigation.

16 May 2024