The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) in Mpumalanga has accused education authorities of destroying the future of teachers and pupils who are implicated in the matric exams cheating scandal by delaying the release of the final report and its findings.
Sadtu provincial chairperson Walter Hlaise told Sunday World the matter had a negative impact on education as the implicated teachers were not allowed to be part of the team that would be marking exams due to the ongoing investigation. Pupils whose results are pending remain in the dark about their future, he said.
The exam scandal surfaced in January after it was suspected that more than 1 000 pupils in the province’s Bohlabela education district had cheated, which saw their results withheld.
“Our members cannot continue with their lives because they are under investigation. In investigations like these, innocent people are affected, which is why we are saying the relevant bodies must speed up the investigations. Some pupils are innocent but their lives are on hold now, and they have been sitting at home since January,” Hlaise said.
“The investigation report must be released so that people can go on with their lives.”
Two sources familiar with the matter – a teacher who invigilated matric examinations and a provincial government official – said after the allegations surfaced the pupils’ results were released bit by bit, which made the process long.
A leaked document from the department showed that 128 pupils from different schools around Manyeleti near Hoedspruit, in the region were “investigated after being suspected of cheating during the 2022 grade 12 final exams”. Another document seen by this newspaper shows that 37 students found guilty of cheating were given letters informing them that they would have to rewrite the subjects in November 2024.
Another letter from the Mpumalanga department of education, however, contradicted the second document by stating that “the department will offer you (students) to rewrite the affected subject papers in June 2023”.
One of the affected pupils, Bennet Ndlovu, 19, from Hlabekisa Secondary School in Manyeleti, said his results in life science, and maths were withheld.
“I have been waiting for the results since February. Nobody is updating me about the progress of the investigation. Some received letters telling them that they have been found guilty and they will be rewriting in November 2024. As for me and others, we don’t know what is happening,” Ndlovu said.
“I wanted to go to the Vaal University of Technology to study mechanical engineering. To be honest with you, at our school no one cheated.” Another pupil, Lindo Khoza, 20, said her life science results had been withheld.
“I wanted to go to the University of Johannesburg to study law but that dream has been destroyed.” Sunday World has been told that the 37 pupils who were found guilty have approached a lawyer. Erick Nxumalo High School and Nghunghunyane High School are among the affected schools. The pupils’ legal representative, advocate July Sibuyi, confirmed he was preparing for the case against the department and quality assurer Umalusi.
“Before I became a lawyer I was a teacher. The matter involving these children was not handled properly. And the contradictory letters from the department also raise questions. We want to launch an urgent application so that the matter can be heard probably next week,” said Sibuyi.
The Mpumalanga department of education denied it was dragging its feet. Spokesperson Jasper Zwane said: “The 2022 national senior certificate examination results for all candidates within the province, including those implicated in irregularities, were released. The only subject results which did not appear in the statement of results were those who were implicated.”
“The learners who were found guilty following a due process had the affected papers/subjects nullified – 974 candidates were found guilty following a due process that took about three months to conclude and all of them received the outcomes of the investigations. Given that the matter is now in court, the department regards it as sub judice,” Zwane said.
Umalusi spokesperson Biki Lepota failed to respond to email and text messages.
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