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What the learners must appreciate is that cheating does not pay. Because they have cheated, they have lost two years. – Mpumalanga High Court judge, Johannes Roelofse.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The Department of Basic Education’s lawyers are studying the implications of court order which directs the department to release results of 448 Mpumalanga Grade 12 pupils who cheated exams.

In a judgement released on August 12, the Mpumalanga division of the High Court, set aside the outcome of the department’s disciplinary hearing on March 31 2023 which declared the results null and void.

The department withheld the results and gave the learners a second chance to re-write in June 2023 after conducting a disciplinary hearing, but they decided to go to court because they denied any wrongdoing.

A panel of experts had found that the learners’ answers lacked originality and were therefore not authentic.

These learners were attending high schools in the Bohlabela region. They were from Lamulelani, Eric Nxumalo, Nghunghunyane, Acornhoek Academy, Dlumani, Mahlale, Hlavhekisa, Sokisi, Wem, Mdluli and Mhlangane.

Acting judge, Johannes Roelofse, concurred with the department’s finding that the learners cheated, but also found that the department flouted certain procedures when subjecting them to disciplinary action.

The department allowed pupils under the age of 18 to represent themselves during the hearing instead of being accompanied by an adult and that the disciplinary notices were defective.

Due to the department’s flaws, Roelofse ordered that the results must be released as the disciplinary process was not fair to the learners.

“I am of the view, having regard to the record that is before me, that indeed the irregularities were committed as found by the department. The decision was the correct one,” Roelofse said.

“The manner in which the decision was arrived at after the irregularities were investigated is amiss.” 

Roelfse said that even though he had no doubt that the learners cheated and deserved to be punished but they were entitled to fairness in the department’s process.

“This did not happen. The learners must succeed. However, what the learners must appreciate is that cheating does not pay. Because they have cheated, they have lost two years,” he added.

The learners’ lives have been in limbo since 2022.

Basic Education spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, said that the judgement was being treated as a matter of urgency.

“The legal team is presently studying the judgment and its implications. In due course a detailed response will be provided,” Mhlanga said.

The department has another cheating scandal on its hands relating to the 2023 exams. It involves 600 grade 12 learners who allegedly copied via a WhatsApp group.

Mpumalanga education spokesperson, Gerald Sambo, said last month that the department’s labour directorate was preparing disciplinary action against implicated teachers.

The scandal involved learners from 28 schools and most of the schools were situated in the Bohlabela district near Bushbuckridge. The subjects where learners were flagged for group copying were Life Sciences, Mathematics, Consumer Studies and Xi-Tsonga.

Sambo said that 66 learners had lodged appeals about the department’s guilty verdict and 33 of the appellants were from EJ Singwane Secondary School.

The biggest ever matric results scandal to hit Mpumalanga province took place in 1998 when the department’s officials inflated results by 20 percentage points – from 51% to 71%.

An investigation found that learners were given marks to boost the province’s image.

Mpumalanga premier at that time, Mathews Phosa, fired then education MEC, David Mabuza, after the scandal. Mabuza would shrug off the negative impact of this period and re-invent himself to be the province’s premier and eventually deputy president of South Africa.