Solidarity fights to stop ANC “capture” of schools

Solidarity is gearing up the fight the African National Congress (ANC) government in court to stop it from “capturing” South Africa’s schools - and stripping parents of a say in the education of their children. BizNews speaks to Solidarity’s Johnell van Vollenhoven after a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee - in which the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) “used their numbers to obtain a majority” - accepted the BELA Amendment Bill this week. The Amendment Bill was therefore accepted for submission to the National Assembly (NA). This is the next step in the process of making it into law. Van Vollenhoven says such as law would mean “that we as parents and our governing bodies that we choose to govern our schools will be stripped of their powers”. The Bill was accepted despite widespread objection from the public with nearly 9 000 of the 11 000 inputs against the amendment of existing laws. “…they are not interested in looking at what the people are saying, they are only interested in pushing through their own ideology in this regard,” Van Vollenhoven charges. - Chris Steyn