BREAKING NEWS: DOES YOUR VOICE COUNT?
 
The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education is meeting today to adopt the final report on the BELA Bill hearings. This report covers the written submissions made last year, the oral submissions by organisations, made in Parliament in November 2022 and the oral and written submissions made during the provincial hearings.
 
The Pestalozzi Trust has studied the draft report and noted that on page 41 it is stated that “the remainder is not processed”. This appears according to our calculations to refer to as many as 9000 submissions, may not be counted and considered.
 
 Please see the attached preliminary report, these figures are tentative and we are currently reviewing them and cross-checking.
 
Our position is that every submission is valuable and must be included.
 
We have brought this to the attention of political parties and hope that the Committee will reject the report and take the time to consider everyone’s submission.
 
The Committee is meeting right now – please see the link below. This is a meeting of the Committee you may not speak nor make comments in the chat. Please adhere to the decorum of the house.

https://parliament-gov-za.zoom.us/j/95711671210?pwd=UHZ6czJZRE83Q1hqSVpFbXlpOHQ4Zz09
 
We will keep you posted of developments and next steps based on the decisions taken in the PCBE today.