The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has voiced its deep concern about the “non-binding” guidelines issued by the Minister of Basic Education rather than binding regulations for the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act. The committee believes this move will confuse the sector.
The committee received a briefing yesterday from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and provincial departments of education on the implementation of the BELA Act. The briefing also updated the committee on progress with the regulations, mainly pertaining to Section 4 and 5 of the Act.
Committee Chairperson Ms Joy Maimela said: “The majority of members of the committee are of the view that deliberate attempts are being made to hold the full implementation of the BELA Act by delaying the drafting of regulations, especially those that speak to the two contentious sections. These regulations should provide the necessary clarity to implementers of the Act.”
At the time, parties were afforded extra time to deliberate on the contentious issues of admission and language policy, which are covered in sections 4 & 5 of the Act, and to submit proposals on how the disputed elements in the sections will be resolved. No consensus could be reach and the Act remained as enacted, on the understanding that regulations setting out the norms and standards were to be prepared.
Committee member Mr Mandla Shikwambana said that during past media engagements a senior member of the Democratic Alliance has indicated that the drafting process of regulations could be delayed by up to two years. He was therefore not surprised that the DBE and the Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, are not making speedy progress on the matter. The committee previously heard that the deadline for the regulations should be ready at the end of June 2025.
Yesterday, Minister Gwarube, indicated that she acted within her powers to issue the draft guidelines for provincial departments of education, stating it is a guide to implement the BELA Act, but is not binding.
The Minister said the 10 draft regulations are at an advanced stage and would be finalised in due course. She also told the committee that 10 task teams have been established to handle each regulation. Furthermore, two of these are nearly complete and are in the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor. Ms Gwarube denied that she succumbed to outside influence to draft the guidelines.
Committee member Dr Delmaine Christians supported the position that the Minister was within her rights to draft guidelines. She emphasised that the guidelines would help the sector on how to implement the BELA Act.
Another Committee member, Mr Sedukanelo Tshepo Louw, said his understanding is that these guidelines apparently referred to definitions in the Act. “At this stage, only two of them [regulations] are ready to go. We have made no progress. Clearly, we are delayed because time was spent to draw up guidelines,” he highlighted.
Ms Maimela said the committee is extremely concerned about claims that the guidelines violate the South African Schools Act (SASA). Some provincial departments of education told the committee that they are concerned with the revised version of the admissions part of the guidelines, which contradict the SASA and impact on the province’s administrative powers. Special reference was made to “collaboration vs after consultation, the powers of the HOD and the appeals process”.
Ms Maimela added: “We have not been furnished with any guidelines or regulations. During our engagements with the provincial departments of education, it became apparent that the guidelines differ from the SASA. Some provincial departments of education are also confused by whether they received guidelines or regulations. This is confusion we were concerned about from the start. If the provincial departments of education are confused, what about the general public and other stakeholders. We cannot allow this confusion.”
The Chairperson also indicated that the committee was informed that the guidelines did not stem from any line function inside the DBE, as has been the practice in the public service. “These are guideline that come from nowhere. No line department has drafted and said there is a need for it. It was just forced down everyone throat.” During a question regarding past practices of drafting guidelines, the committee was informed that in practice, a department’s line function is initiated on a needs basis. In this instance, it was drafted in Minister Gwarube’s office and then sent to the DBE and PEDs for input and consideration.
Several provincial departments of education told the committee that the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) rejected the guidelines and said focus should rather be on drafting the regulations. The CEM referred the matter back to the Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM).
Ms Maimela said the committee requested the Minister to provide a comprehensive report within four working days on the process that led to the drafting of the guidelines. “The committee is of the view that the time spent for draft guidelines could have been utilised rather for drafting regulations. “We need the detail of what led to the guidelines as we must discuss if we need to write to the Office of the President and explain the confusion created in the sector,” emphasised Ms Maimela.
She went on to say that the committee has engaged with eight provincial departments of education. Challenges of infrastructure, funding for compulsory Grade R, training of Grade R practitioners and stipends paid to them were some of the concerns highlighted.
Ms Maimela said the committee resolved not to engage with the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) presentation, as it felt that the presentation lacked the necessary detail. “The WCED has been told to amend its presentation and address the shortcomings. The WCED had a seven-slide presentation, but only three of those slides had the required information. We took a dim view as we noted that the WCED seems to disregard our oversight role. We informed it to prepare a more detailed presentation that actually speaks to the request we sent to them,” reiterated Ms Mailmela.
Rajaa Azzakani
9 July 2025
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