President Ramaphosa's announcement that the implementation of clauses 4 and 5 of the BELA Act will be delayed for a period of three months stinks of political spin and misdirection.
The Referendum Party (RP) will now observe very carefully what happens in practice.
RP leader Phil Craig says, “What compromise does the President think is possible? Right now school governing bodies have the final say on admission and language policies at their school. In three months time, unless the President backs down, the government will have the final say. Is he going to back down or not? He already knows the answer to that question and mustn't take the people for fools. It is hard to believe he is doing anything other than trying to take the heat out of the situation.”
The Referendum Party is strongly opposed to clauses 4 and 5 because they take power away from parents and place it into the hands of a government with an appalling record of bad decision making and failure.
Craig says,”Ramaphosa's final decision will determine whether he is a GNU president or an ANC one. If he turns out to be an ANC president, the GNU partners will simply be empowering an ANC which SA voted to remove from power.”
DATE: 13 September 2024