All eyes (and legal teams) are on Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, now tasked with setting out the norms and standards for the full implementation of the Bela Act in 2025.

Listen to this article 10 min Listen to this article 10 min Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube is set to lead the implementation of the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (Bela Act), following President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement on Friday, 20 December 2024, that he would sign a Presidential Proclamation to bring the Act into operation immediately.

The President's announcement was accepted by all the parties involved in the Government of National Unity's Clearing House Mechanism's task team - set up for parties to come to an agreement over contested sections of the Act, particularly Clauses 4 and 5, which relate to language and admission policies.

The minister said that the most immediate steps were now to ensure that they had "guidelines, norms and standards and regulations" in place that would give legal clarity to the Act. This is what the legal teams at AfriForum and Solidarity will be keeping a keen eye on as we head into 2025.

Gwarube said that the timelines for implementing these would be set by her, and noted that these did take time.

"I want to make it abundantly clear that this Act will be implemented and its implementation will be led by me....