Enough with Bela, build schools instead, says AfriForum Youth

The math is so simple and doesn’t even require a calculator. As part of a protest action, AfriForum Youth today handed over statistics and a giant calculator to representatives of the Office of the Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, revealing that the Gauteng Department of Education has miserably failed the youth in this province. Research shows that in the ten years from 2014 to 2023 – the same time in which Lesufi was at the helm of Education in the province as MEC from May 2014 to October 2022 – the number of schools in Gauteng decreased from 2 070 to 2 061. This despite Lesufi’s numerous promises (as MEC and more recently as Premier of Gauteng) to build new schools.

In addition to the drop in the number of public schools in Gauteng, the statistics presented by AfriForum Youth today show that there are currently almost 300 000 more learners in this province than a decade ago.

AfriForum Youth maintains that the Gauteng Department of Education and Lesufi fail the test to create a better future for Gauteng’s school-going youth year after year. The youth organisation also argues that Lesufi and the provincial Department of Education, as proponents of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act 32 of 2024 (Bela Act), have failed to create sufficient school capacity and now want to use the implementation of Sections 5 and 6 of the Bela Act to punish Afrikaans schools for this incompetence. These articles are aimed at placing the final decision-making powers of schools’ admission and language policy in the hands of provincial heads of Education.

According to Louis Boshoff, AfriForum Youth spokesperson, Lesufi promised, among other things, in 2014 to build one school per week and promised again in 2020 to build 100 new schools. However, the net result of these building promises is nine fewer schools than in 2014.

“It is outrageous to argue that through the implementation of Bela, space must be made for other languages ​​and more children in Afrikaans schools, while the real solution – to build new schools – has already been identified and promised but is not implemented,” Boshoff explains.

AfriForum Youth maintains that the education crisis in Gauteng can only be solved if new schools are built and existing schools are left under the supervision and management of democratically elected school governing bodies. “The education crisis in Gauteng is due to the negligence of various officials, but if one person should be singled out, it is Panyaza Lesufi. That is why AfriForum Youth decided to hand over the statistics to his office today,” explains Boshoff.

Opposition to Sections 5 and 6 of the Bela Act is increasing strongly, Boshoff believes, and is visible in various sections of the Afrikaans community. “As young Afrikaners, we are probably the part of society for whom it is most important that these sections be scrapped, because it can determine our and our children’s future,” concludes Boshoff.

A Day of Protest against the implementation of the mentioned two sections was recently announced by Afrikaans organisations and will include, among other things, a mass protest march set to start at the Voortrekker Monument and follow to Freedom Park on 5 November. AfriForum Youth will also participate in this protest event to show their support for the scrapping of Sections 5 and 6. Visit www.belaprotes.co.za for more information or to register for the march.