Basic Education Director General, Hubert Mweli has confirmed that government printers are the second source of the matric exam paper leak.
“Last time when the minister hosted a press briefing, we confirmed that the source of the leak was the printing company in Gauteng...We can now tell you that the second source of the leak is government printers. The Physical Science full paper was leaked from government printers. The detail of that, we’ll leave for the Hawks,” said Mweli.
The department has been trying to get to the bottom of the leak of two matric papers since November. Mathematics Paper 2 and the Physical Sciences Paper 2 were both leaked before learners were able to write them.
On 1 December, a suspect was arrested following a successful investigation by the Hawks.
Hawks spokesperson, Katlego Motlale said the suspect who was arrested worked for a company that was contracted to print exam papers for the Department.
After weeks of deliberation, the department announced that learners would have to rewrite the Maths and Physical Sciences papers on 15 and 17 December.
However, the High Court ordered the department to set the rewrite aside after SADTU, AfriForum and other parties approached the court calling for the rewrite to be canceled.
The department agreed to follow through with the court order and canceled the rewrite.
“Council of Education Ministers agreed that the Class of 2020 has been confronted by many challenges brought about by the pandemic; and it would therefore be unfair to further subject the Class of 2020, their teachers and parents to further uncertainties and exacerbate the anxieties they currently face,” said the department.
Even though the department agreed to follow the court order, it said it would challenge some aspects of the judgement given by Judge Norman Davis.
Minister Motshekga said the department's main reasons for deciding to announce a rewrite was informed by the credibility, integrity and fairness of the exams. The Minister feels that the judgement did not address these issues.
“We must say that some of the findings of the High Court are discordant with the applicable basic education legislative provisions, and some findings were made against the department on issues that were not even raised in the court papers.
“The legal team is exploring avenues that are to be used to address some of the errors we have picked up in the judgment,” said the Minister.
