Secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC) Fikile Mbalula has welcomed the signing of the contentious Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill into law on Friday, despite opposition to the enactment of the legislation.
Ramaphosa signed the controversial BELA Bill into law at the Union Buildings on Friday, a move which has upset other parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU), particularly the Democratic Alliance (DA) which has threatened to go to court.
In signing the the BELA Bill, Ramaphosa announced that he has resolved to delay the implementation of certain clauses of the Bill which deal with schools admission and language for three months while consultations happen.
In the last few days, the parties to the Government of National Unity have expressed their wish to further engage each other on sections of the bill that deal with issues of admission and language. In the spirit of cooperation and meaningful engagement, I have decided to delay the implementation date for clauses 4 and 5 of the Bill by three months, he said.
This will give the parties time to deliberate on these issues and make proposals on how the different views may be accommodated. Should the parties not be able to agree on an approach, then we will proceed with the implementation of these parts of the Bill.
