Mashatile emphasises need for education reform in tribute to Bengu

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has called on the government to honour the late former education minister Prof Sibusiso Bengu by accelerating the implementation of the Basic Education Law Amendment (Bela) Act.

Mashatile was speaking at the funeral service for Bengu, the country's first education minister in the democratic era and a former ambassador, at the University of Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday 

“The passing of Prof Bengu should propel us to pay more urgent collective attention to some of the challenges in society including the transformation of our country’s education landscape,” he said.

“As the first step to transforming education in South Africa, our government will ensure that the implementation of the Bela Act takes place as soon as possible.”

Bengu, who served as the country's ambassador to Germany after his term as education minister, was accorded a special official category 2 funeral at his alma mater in Esikhawini.

Mashatile said the Bela Act gives provincial education departments greater control over schools' admission policies, language practices and code of conduct, ensuring they respect the cultural and religious beliefs of all pupils .

“It seeks to ensure that, in line with the changing sociopolitical economic and geographical landscape in South Africa, all learners have equal and fair access to quality basic education that the country has to offer.”

The act has been a contentious issue with current minister Siviwe Gwarube and her party, the DA, having previously expressed opposition to some parts of it.

Thamisanqa Mseleku, South African high commissioner to Nigeria who worked with Bengu as director of the education department, said the Bela Act actually stemmed from compromises they had had to make during the national negotiations around the Schools Act before the adoption of the 1996 constitution.

“We were not very happy with it (the clause) but it was between taking the country into a referendum and accepting what we had and work with it. Eventually Prof Bengu agreed with us, even though the SACP was not so sure about it,” he said.

“It was the most democratically consulted process, the powers of the governing body. All aspects of it went to every corner of this country consulting everybody because the clause of the first constitution said we can't change the powers of the governing body without proper consultation.”

Mseleku said Gwarube's recent budget speech emphasised that there's a lot to learn from Bengu's generation as the challenges facing the department were not too dissimilar.

“The speech outlined seven priorities, including access, quality, equality of infrastructure and inclusive education. The context might be different but the conversations are still the same.”

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