Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen on Tuesday argued that provincial governments would have “too much” power under the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act, as he joined protestors at the Voortrekker Monument to march against sections 4 and 5 of the Act.

The DA joined Solidarity and AfriForum in the march against what has been described as “attacking the soul of the Afrikaans community”, and sought to hand over memorandums to government representatives.

Sections 4 and 5 of the Act deal with language and admissions policy at schools, which the organisations argue give the State “too much” control over where children attend schools and in what language.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the BELA Bill into law, despite a significant degree of public rejection and concern over its constitutionality.

He placed on hold two clauses of the Bill for three months to find solutions to the concerns around them.

Should no solutions be found, it would be implemented fully, he said.

“Imagine trying to learn maths or science in a language which is not your home language, or which you don’t understand. We will never allow that. Clause 4 and 5 of the BELA Act give too much authority to provincial governments, and take away too much of our democratic rights as parents. They pose a massive risk to the beautiful diversity of culture and language in South Africa,” said Steenhuisen.

He asserted that the South African Constitution allowed for the right to education in the language of the learner's choice.

Further, he argued that with the clauses under scrutiny, school governing bodies would lose the ability to make decisions that reflected the needs of local communities and parents.

“We cannot allow this authority to be handed over to an official in a provincial office, far from the needs and wants of community members. Protection of mother-tongue education is critical,” he asserted.

Also joining the march were organisations that included the Cape Forum, the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie, Solidarity Helping Hand, the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools, the MOS initiative, the Afrikaans Onderwysnetwerk, die Afrikaanse Taalraad, the Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations, the Voortrekkers, the Afrikanerleiersnetwerk (Afrikaner leadership network), Akademia, Aros, the AP Akademie, Bo-Karoo Opleiding, Sol-Tech, SAAI, TLUSA, the Afrikanerbond, the Rapportryers, the Pretoria Sakekamer and National Employers' Association of South Africa.