AfriForum To March Against BELA Bill Implementation

• Lobby group AfriForum is expected to march against the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill
• The organisation that the march would be a means to bring the plight of the looming destruction of Afrikaans to the fore
• The CEO also said the march is to highlight the importance of receiving education in one's mother tongue

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, the State of the Nation Address, Parliament and Parliamentary committees, politician-related news and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

JOHANNESBURG—Lobby group AfriForum will march against the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill in an attempt to prevent its implementation in its current form.

AfriForum to march against BELA

SABC News reported that AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said 40 other organisations will join AfriForum to march in Freedom Park, Pretoria. He said the march is meant to send a message that receiving education in one's mother tongue is of paramount importance.

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Kriel also said that the march seeks to ensure that cultural communities survive, He said the BELA Bill would seek to destroy Afrikaans schools, which are central to the survival of the Afrikaner culture. The march comes a few months after Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bill into law and invited parties to consult on the bill.

Opposition against Bela Bill

The Democratic Alliance also opposed the BELA Bill before Ramaphosa signed it. The Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, who initially supported the bill, announced on the day it was signed that she would not attend the signing ceremony. The Democratic Alliance called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet with the party to discuss parts of the bill that they said infringed on the rights of South Africans.

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Mamokgethi Phakeng supports BELA Bill

In a related article, Briefly News reported that former University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Dr Mamokgethi Phakeng supported the BELA Bill.

Phakeng posted on social media before it was signed, and she said the country was still struggling under the legacy of apartheid, where South Africans are still oppressed linguistically, spatially and financially.

Source: Briefly News