Basic Education Committee chairperson welcome arrest in matric paper leak

1 December 2020

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has welcomed the arrest of a person in connection with the leak of examination papers for the 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.

Committee Chairperson Ms Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba said the actions of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the investigating authorities leading to the speedy arrest must be commended. “This should be a lesson to all prospective criminals out there that the law will take its course and that you will not go unpunished. This is the future of our children that you are playing with.”

The chairperson’s comments follow a media report quoting the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, who said that one arrest linked to the leaked Physical Sciences paper was made in Gauteng. According to the news report, Minister Motshekga said the Physics paper did not go far and a link could not be established between other leaks of Mathematics and Business Economics papers.

Last month, Physics paper 2 was leaked just hours before matric pupils sat down to write it. A week earlier, Mathematics paper 2 was also leaked. The Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation were brought in to investigate the leak of that paper.

MsMbinqo-Gigaba encouraged the investigating team to do all in its power to trace the source of the leaks of all NSC papers. “We do not want the credibility and integrity of the examinations to be compromised,” she said.

Issued by Rajaa Azzakani, Media Officer, Parliament, 1 December 2020