By Thapelo Molefe
Education committee chairpersons in Parliament have condemned Operation Dudula’s threats to disrupt schools in 2026 over the presence of foreign learners, warning such actions violate children’s constitutional rights.
Speaking during a joint social services cluster briefing, Select Committee on Education chairperson Makhi Feni said the threats were “unacceptable” and undermined the rule of law.
“South Africa is a constitutional democracy, not a banana republic. No organisation has the right to threaten disruptions that would harm our children’s education,” he said.
Feni stressed that undocumented children should not be automatically treated as illegal, noting that many lacked documents due to lost paperwork or delays at Home Affairs.
He warned that the organisation’s group’s approach could easily harm legitimate South African children and reiterated that Parliament would not tolerate any violation of children’s rights.
“How do you even begin to identify a child who is undocumented?” Feni asked.
“An undocumented child is not automatically an illegal child. To adopt a blanket approach of destruction is dangerous. Civil society organisations should protect rights, not trample on them.”
He further cautioned that while Parliament was open to engagement with civil society groups, law enforcement would intervene if organisations attempted to disrupt schooling.
“We are willing to talk, but if there is no cooperation, decisive action will be taken. No one will be allowed to deny children their education,” he said
Portfolio Committee on Basic Education chairperson Joy Maimela used the same platform to raise concerns about the slow rollout of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act regulations.
She criticised the Department of Basic Education for releasing only two of the eight regulations, missing its June deadline.
“The piecemeal release of regulations creates confusion and delays implementation. Some of the terminology reintroduced through regulations was already rejected during public consultations, and we cannot accept backdoor tactics by the executive,” Maimela reiterated.
She highlighted specific issues with admission policies and “feeder zones” that could reinforce local segregation, contrary to the Act’s intent of inclusivity.
The committee has called for a full review of the regulations and immediate release of the remaining six.
Maimela also raised concern about infrastructure and teacher readiness for the compulsory introduction of Grade R, citing shortages of classrooms, materials and adequately qualified teachers.
Government has allocated R100 million for infrastructure and R10 billion for teacher capacitation in the 2025/26 financial year, but MPs warn progress remains too slow.
On school safety, both committees expressed alarm over rising incidents of bullying and violence, including viral videos of learners assaulting peers and teachers.
The chairperson further criticised weaknesses in school governance, saying many School Governing Bodies (SGBs) lacked the capacity to manage maintenance budgets or enforce codes of conduct.
“You go to a school, classes are broken, doors are broken and yet there is a budget allocated. But the SGB does not have capacity to utilise that budget, so the school deteriorates further,” she said.
She argued for stronger training programmes for SGBs, particularly to help them address safety and discipline, insisting that corporal punishment could not return as a solution.
“We must find new mechanisms to instil discipline and create a culture of respect between learners and teachers,” Maimela added.
On school safety, Maimela pointed to shocking incidents including the suicide of a learner in Limpopo after bullying, and the stabbing of a pupil in Gauteng. She said such cases underscored the urgency of effective safety programmes and warned that existing police-school partnerships were often ineffective.
“We were told there is a cop attached to each school, but in reality, some only visit once every six months. That has no real impact,” she said.
The committee has demanded more robust cooperation between schools, police and communities to ensure results-driven interventions.
Maimela also drew attention to overcrowding in Western Cape schools, citing oversight visits that found up to 80 learners crammed into technical classrooms.
“It is unworkable. Teachers cannot teach effectively under such conditions, and learners are denied the attention they need,” she said, urging the department to consider temporary classrooms as a short-term solution.
She warned that inequalities were being perpetuated by current funding models, with township schools starved of resources while former model-C schools enjoy low learner-teacher ratios.
On Grade R, Maimela said while most provinces had long implemented the reception year, the Western Cape lagged behind, creating placement backlogs.
She stressed that Grade R practitioners must be fully qualified and remunerated as teachers, and urged the department to continue capacitating those already in the system.
The chairperson has welcomed the Education Labour Relations Council’s (ELRC) teacher headcount initiative, saying it would “open up space” for new teachers to be employed by removing ghost posts.
On both the Dudula threats and departmental shortcomings, the committees were united in warning that South Africa cannot afford to gamble with the education of its children.
“Every learner in this country, South African or foreign, has the right to learn in a safe environment. That is non-negotiable,” said Maimela.
INSIDE EDUCATION
