MPs pile pressure of basic education minister to publish Bela regulations

BASIC Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube says her department is on track to publish the regulations relating to the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act before the June deadline.

Responding to questions in the Basic Education Portfolio Committee, Gwarube said she had on numerous occasions informed the committee and Parliament that the Bela Act was already enacted into law.

“The last time, in Parliament, I indicated that when the Act is signed into law, it comes into effect. There is no delay,” she said.

EFF MP Mandla Shikwambana had said South Africans were confused about what was happening with the Bela Act and regulations.

“You are deliberately playing a political game and using delay tactics. No matter how smart you are to give us answers, the fact of the matter is that there is a serious deliberate delay in dealing with the regulations,” Shikwambana said.

He wanted to know when the clauses in the Bela Act that deal with language and admissions will be fully implemented.

 “We need those regulations. They must come and be published. If you have got them or published them elsewhere, can you furnish us with those regulations?” Shikwambana said.

ANC MP Tshepo Louw wanted to know about the delays in the proclamation of the Bela Act’s clauses on admission and language.

Louw asked about the advice the State Law Advisor gave the department on the outstanding regulations and the status of the regulations.

In her response, Gwarube said the two clauses of the Bela Act came into operation when the new law was signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in December 2024.

“Those sections came into law last year already. There is no delay in implementing the Act itself or specific amendments. They are in the entirety of the law and remain law as we speak,” she said.

Gwarube stated that the drafting of regulations was not a straightforward process.

Last year, the department made a commitment that there would be guidelines while regulations were being drafted and then published for public comment in June 2025.

“The date, as we stand here, is June 17. We are about two weeks away from the end of June,” she said.

“I really do battle to understand the assertion and even the accusation that somehow there is a delay in the implementation of the Act and production of the regulations. We made a commitment last year that by the end of June, the regulations would be out and published for the public. We are not at the end of June.”

Gwarube also said the drafting of the regulations was an intricate process.

“It is not done by the minister. It is done by the legal team within the department in conjunction with the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor. That is the legal process we must allow to take its course. The regulations don’t delay the implementation of the Act.

Committee Chairperson Joy Maimela said they wanted to see the Bela Act in action as schools have started with the application process for next year’s admissions

“Where we are seated, we should invite the department to come and give an account of how many language policies they have seen and dealt with,” Maimela said.

Gwarube said heads of provincial departments could be convened and give an update in that regard.

She indicated that only one school in the Free State was going through the process of changing its language policy.

“We are on the same page about the role of heads of departments (HoDs). They are not to go around and say we will proactively change. There has to be a process that can be initiated by parents or school governing bodies. I am not saying the committee should not summon the HoDs,” she said.

Cape Times