{"id":117946,"date":"2026-08-11T10:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/?p=117946"},"modified":"2026-08-11T10:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:44:12","slug":"swartruggens-gekombineerde-skool-proves-devil-in-the-detail-of-the-bela-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/swartruggens-gekombineerde-skool-proves-devil-in-the-detail-of-the-bela-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Swartruggens Gekombineerde Skool proves devil in the detail of the Bela Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Alana-Bailey_English.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Alana Bailey (English)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AfriForum warns that the North West Department of Education\u2019s disregard for an urgent interim court interdict proves why this organisation is so strongly opposed to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, better known as the Bela Act. The interdict followed after the North West Head of Education placed 78 English learners in the Afrikaans Swartruggens Gekombineerde Skool and threatened to change the school\u2019s language and admissions policies without the agreement of the school\u2019s governing body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas), that is assisting the school\u2019s governing body, this case is the first to challenge the Bela Act. Although the court granted an interdict against the Department\u2019s actions, the latter has not yet met any of the deadlines set by the court order. The school and Fedsas are now threatening the Department with an application for contempt of court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alana Bailey, AfriForum\u2019s Head of Cultural Affairs, says that these events clearly illustrate the dangers of the Bela Act. Those in favour of the law stated that any problems could simply be sorted out with legal action but failed to take into account that the relevant departments could blatantly ignore court orders. \u201cWhile the schools and supporting institutions such as Fedsas are burdened with the costs, time and effort, and the education of the learners concerned is compromised, the officials act as they please,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, reported to the National Council of Provinces\u2019 Committee on Education on the implementation of the Act. She also published further draft regulations for its implementation in the <em>Government Gazette<\/em>. These regulations deal with the election and operations of school governing bodies, state teacher payments, standards for provincial education development institutes and the National Education Information System. Public input received regarding regulations for schools\u2019 admission policies is still being processed before the final version will be published and the draft regulations for schools\u2019 language policies are still being awaited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bailey emphasises that it is essential that all stakeholders should comment on the latest draft regulations before 5 September 2026 and that schools oppose the actions of provincial principals that threaten the safety and quality of education of learners such as in the case of Swartruggens Gekombineerde Skool. AfriForum is ready to assist schools with advice in this regard. Enquiries may be sent to <a href=\"mailto:onderwys@afriforum.co.za\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">onderwys@afriforum.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AfriForum warns that the North West Department of Education\u2019s disregard for an urgent interim court interdict proves why this organisation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":110504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11182,11162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-and-leadership-projects-media-statements","category-media-statements"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":11182,"label":"Education and leadership projects Media statements"},{"value":11162,"label":"Media statements"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/priscilla-du-preez-ggeZ9oyI-PE-unsplash-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"AfriForum","author_link":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/author\/meganswart\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":11182,"name":"Education and leadership projects Media statements","slug":"education-and-leadership-projects-media-statements","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":11182,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":11162,"count":146,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":11182,"category_count":146,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Education and leadership projects Media statements","category_nicename":"education-and-leadership-projects-media-statements","category_parent":11162},{"term_id":11162,"name":"Media statements","slug":"media-statements","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":11162,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":3015,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":11162,"category_count":3015,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Media statements","category_nicename":"media-statements","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117949,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117946\/revisions\/117949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}