Former UCT boss Phakeng supports Bela Bill amid controversy

Former University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng has endorsed the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill due to be signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Building in Pretoria on Friday.

The bill aims to implement governance changes within the education sector, but has stirred debate and criticism from some political parties, including government of national unity (GNU) partners.

Phakeng said: “The Bela Bill must be supported. It’s disheartening that 30 years later, our democracy still mirrors apartheid era structures. We have language, spatial planning and money as exclusionary tools instead of race, but the ultimate result is mainly racial exclusion.”

She criticised people who support democracy but do not support the bill. 

“People call themselves democrats, yet their actions are not only undemocratic, they are outright anti-democratic.”

The bill amends sections of the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998.

Phakeng said she did not blindly support the bill as there were parts of it that caused concern for her.

“I was seriously concerned with the liquor amendments. They wanted to allow the possession, consumption and sale of alcohol in schools in ‘certain cases’, but I don’t see the clause in the latest document. There are minor provisions we can work around, but we cannot, and should not, throw the entire bill into the bin when it is largely progressive.” 

In response to a comment questioning whether she would continue to support the bill if it prohibited ministers, MECs and heads of department from sending their children to private schools, Phakeng affirmed her stance.

“I would fully support that. Taking your children to a private school when you are leading public schools shows you have zero confidence in the very schools you want ‘the people’ to use. Nothing incentivises you to work hard to improve the system because none of the decisions you take affect you or those you care for,” she said.

Critics have argued that the Bela Bill undermines the authority of school governing bodies and centralises decision-making power.

The DA has urged Ramaphosa to send the bill back to parliament for amendments to align it with constitutional standards.

On Friday morning, basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube said she remains opposed to the enactment of the bill.

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