Matric exam paper leaked in Limpopo

The Department of Basic Education confirmed on Tuesday that the matric life sciences paper two had leaked in Limpopo.

At a news conference in Polokwane, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said that her department had received a tip-off at 6am on Monday that the paper that was being written that day had leaked.

"The DBE was able to verify the information received and confirm that the question paper provided at least an hour before the examination could commence, was in fact the official question paper. This confirmed a compromise to the question paper," it said in a statement.

The department said that depending on the scale of the leak, either pupils at the affected school could be asked to rewrite the exam or those in the district or in the province.

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Motshekga said that a task team will be established to find the source of the security breach and to make recommendations on how such a breach can be prevented in the future. An oversight team meanwhile will work with the provincial examination team, "to guard the integrity of the remaining question papers that are still to be written".

"The DBE will increase its presence in the province through the deployment of additional officials to the province. At the moment, there are 30 DBE officials and monitors, in the province and they will focus specifically on the locale of the alleged leak."

In order to ensure the "alleged compromise" is limited and "does not contaminate the examination in the rest of the district" Motshekga said the the scripts of the circuit and the schools currently under suspicion will be placed under quarantine.

The department said that during a monitoring visit to assess the state of readiness of the province to administer the matric exams in May, it identified "inherent and ongoing risks" that posed a genuine threat to the credibility of the exams. The risks were communicated to the head of department in Limpopo through a letter.

Another visit took place on August 19 and 20 during which the state of readiness of five districts to conduct the exams was evaluated.

Motshekga said a final state of readiness report and a letter was sent to the head of department in the province which included the following concerns:

•  limited examination staff capacity at the head office in Polokwane;
•  the examination offices in Polokwane did not have telephone lines, fax lines and no internet connectivity;
•  and the chief director for examinations, Mr Mphahlele, had for the last four months been operating without an office. He has been managing exams while "squatting" at the office of the senior general manager.

The South African Police Services and the State Security Agency will also be brought on board so the perpetrators can be prosecuted.