BL Premium reports that trade union federation Cosatu has urged parliament to scrap provisions in the contentious Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill that criminalise disruption of schools.

Parliament’s basic education committee has been hearing oral submissions on the bill, which contains wide-ranging reforms that include a ban on any disruption to schooling. The bill makes it an offence to “interrupt, disturb or hinder any school activity”, with penalties that include a fine or up to 12 months in prison. This includes teachers and pupils. “This definition of school disruptions is too broad, unconstitutional and will effectively criminalise teachers and education workers for exercising their constitutional and legal rights to picket, protest and strike. Such a ban won’t pass constitutional muster and will be challenged in the Constitutional Court if not removed by parliament from the bill,” Cosatu said in its submission. The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), which represents 26,400 of SA’s 400,000 teachers, said people who disrupted schooling should be penalised, but the bill went too far. The bill should specifically exclude educators or union members who had embarked on a protected strike, it said. In its presentation to the committee, the union indicated: “There are sufficient existing laws pertaining to criminal conduct and violent protests, and (this) should not be the legislative tool where such activities are dealt with.” Cosatu’s parliamentary co-ordinator Matthew Parks also said the organisation was deeply opposed to the bill’s provisions allowing schools to sell alcohol on their premises as part of their fundraising activities.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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