Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Helen Gill said that section 2 of the Basic Education Law Amendment (BELA) Act was part of a revenge plot against Afrikaans.
This was announced after Vice President Paul Mashatil said President Cyril Ramaphosa will announce the results of the Government of National Unity (GNU) discussions on the BELA law.
Gill says parallel education in schools is being used as an excuse to eradicate Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
she says: “This meant that schools that had previously offered parallel secondary education were quickly becoming English-only schools. The same was true for universities. Stellenbosch was once an Afrikaans-speaking university. It was in an Afrikaans-speaking state where the majority of Afrikaans speakers were non-white. Terenbosch also said that he intends to pursue a medium-sized program in both English and Afrikaans, which is of course the same at the University of the Free State (UFS) and the University of Pretoria (UP). But it's exactly the same thing. Basically it's being used as a means to exterminate Afrikaans.”
Mr Gill said that despite disagreements with the African National Congress (ANC) on the BELA Act, negotiations over the two provisions had been constructive.
she says: “I think everyone did their best to find a win-win solution, and I think win-win solutions are on the table. GNU needs a conflict resolution mechanism to be successful. We are working hard to make GNU's conflict resolution mechanism work because it is essential that it works.”
“We are obviously not going to agree with everything the ANC wants or does or all of its policies. After all, we opposed them in the election and now they are without us. So what we have to do is also serve our constituents in a united government,” Gill added.
Video: DA vows to fight BELA law enforcement:
