By More than 10 000 people, including civil society movements, solidarity, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) took to the streets in Pretoria on Tuesday, 5 November 2024, to march against the Basic Education Law Amendment (BELA) Bill, and more specifically to protect Afrikaans in schools.
Though the leaders are arguing that the march is not necessarily to protect Afrikaans alone as medium of instruction in schools, they have vowed to fight to the bitter end to make sure that the language does not go anywhere; as it is part of culture and learners learn best in their home language.
Speaking during the march, leaders from the more than 40 organisations that were part of the protest said, the BELA Act is a red line the government don’t want to cross as it will not only compromise Afrikaans but other indigenous languages as well and the effective learning for learners.
The Premier of Gauteng Province Panyaza Lesufi and MEC for Basic Education Matome Chiloane, dubbed as contemporary colonists at the protests; also came under fire accused of attempting to anglicise Afrikaans schools like the colonialists of old.
“They will not succeed. Afrikaans will remain. What we do here today is out of love. Unlike Lesufi and Co, our actions are not motivated by hatred towards other groups. It’s out of love for our children. It is out of love for our schools. It is out of love for our task, our heritage, and the country,” Flip Buys, Chairperson of the Solidarity Movement.
The leaders speaking at the protests said the protest is against the sections on public school admission and language policies included in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act 32 of 2024 (the BELA Act). They argued how can some stranger sitting in a government office decide on the future of their children? As parents they need to make the crucial decisions of admission and especially that of language.
“Leave our children alone!” they shouted and chanted “BELA is our red line”.
“BELA is our red line. We convey this message to all political parties in the GNU to ensure they understand the intensity of the community’s sentiments. More than 10 000 people said today that they will not allow their children’s future to be taken away,” said Dr Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive of Solidarity.
The leaders say, every child has the right to learn in their home language, not only Afrikaans, but the protest also includes other local languages and the preservation of culture.
In stark contrast from the 70’s, a large number of Afrikaans speaking people took to the street to protest in protection of the language, three decades into democracy, Afrikaans still is a thorn in the flesh of the country.
“People are angry, and they have come here to show it today. A law that targets Afrikaans schools and threatens our cultural survival has angered them,” said Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum.
“Our Constitution is clear. Every person has the right to education in the language or languages of their choice. These rights that are in our Constitution can no longer just be erased with a pen,” he explains. “We cannot hand this power over to a provincial officer in an office that sits far from the school and local community,” said the DA Leader and Member of the GNU Parliament John Steenhuisen.
The Minister for the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Mr Gayton McKenzie was at the protest on behalf of the Presidency to accept the memorandum of demands from the protesting organisations and political parties, who in turned committed to fight against the implementation of Section 4 and 5 of the BELA Act.
