Umalusi approves release of matric results despite unresolved irregularities

Umalusi held a press briefing at its headquarters in Pretoria on Monday morning.

Chairperson Yusuf Ballim says the irregularities were not systemic, and did not compromise the credibility and integrity of the National Senior Certificate exams.

"Having studied all the evidence presented, the executive committee of Umalusi council concluded that the examinations were administered largely in accordance with regulations pertaining to the conduct and administrative management of the National Senior Certificate examination. The executive committee of council therefore approves the release of the Department of Basic Education’s November 2022 National Senior Certificate examination results."  

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is set to release the results on Thursday.

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Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi said the irregularities picked up by the quality assurance body included the WhatsApp cheating scandal in Mpumalanga and early access to some exam papers.

In Mpumalanga, a total of 58 centres were fingered, with a total of 1289 candidates are believed to be involved.

Rakometsi said different forms of cheating have been received from the various regulatory bodies.

"These include candidates found in possession of crib notes and/or cell phones, sharing of answers via WhatsApp groups, imposters were found in the examination rooms, some answer scripts had different handwritings, etc.

"Based on the magnitude of the offences, different sanctions have been meted against the candidates involved such as the nullification of the results, barring the candidates from writing the examination for either one or two examination cycles."