Democratic Alliance (DA) federal chairperson Helen Zille said the party has objected to clauses 4 and 5 on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act, claiming they are "unnecessary" and part of a retaliatory plot against Afrikaans.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce the outcomes of discussions by the unity government on the BELA act.
This was revealed by Deputy President Paul Mashatile during his address at the SA Communist Party's (SACP) national special congress held in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, last week.
The BELA Act was signed into law in September, but President Cyril Ramaphosa delayed the execution of two of its sections, clause 4 and 5 to allow more consultation on them.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has also called on Ramaphosa to sign the Act.
In an interview with the SABC, ZIlle said parallel-medium streams at schools were used as an excuse for eradicating Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
"So we have seen that at schools that have had parallel-medium streams, the school has very quickly turned to become only English.
"Same thing at universities, Stellenbosch used to be an Afrikaans-speaking university in a majority Afrikaans speaking province with a majority of Afrikaans speakers who are not white.
"Stellenbosch also said they were going to get parallel –medium programme going, English and Afrikaans well of course now it’s only English. Basically it’s used as a means of eradicating Afrikaans," she said.
Despite disagreements with the ANC over the BELA Act, Zille said, the talks about the two clauses have been fruitful.
Clause 4: seeks to amend sections of the South African Schools Act (SASA). It provides for an admission age and that, despite the age at which school attendance is compulsory.
As stipulated in section 3(1), a parent may, if he or she so wishes and subject to a few conditions, enroll a child in a school to start attending grade R at a younger age.
Provided that, if a school has limited capacity for admission to Grade R, preference must be given to learners who are subject to compulsory attendance.
It provides that the governing body of a public school must submit the admission policy of the school to the Head of Department for approval.
Clause 5: Seeks to amend section 6 of the SASA to provide for the governing body to submit the language policy of a public school, and any amendment thereof, to the Head of Department for approval.
According to Zille, these clauses want to destroy Afrikaans in schools.
However, last month, the DA leader John Steenhuisen said if attempts to stop the proposed BELA Act through discussion fail, the party will take the Government of National Unity (GNU) to court.
The lobby group AfriForum and several other organisations also protested against the Basic Education LawsBELA) Act in Pretoria.
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighter’s (EFF) secretary-general Marshall Dlamini vowed to lead a mass protest if Ramaphosa did not officially sign it into law.
IOL Politics