Government Printing Works is reviewing its contract with the service provider following an unfortunate incident where children and educators in some Limpopo Province’s districts exhibited signs of sickness this week
The Government Printing Works (GPW) is reviewing the contract and working relationship it has with the service provider following an unfortunate incident which children and educators in some districts in Limpopo exhibited signs of sickness after inhaling the unpleasant smell from the examination papers on Monday, 11 November 2019.
GPW moved swiftly to recall the affected examination papers which were printed by the service provider for Grade 11 examination papers. The subjects affected were Maths Literacy paper two, Geography paper one and two and Home Languages.
“As the Government Printing Works, we normally don’t outsource the printing of examination papers. The air-conditioning system at the GPW’s printing facility unexpectedly became faulty and stopped working. This situation called for an immediate intervention and we got a contractor to help us manage the volumes we needed to print timeously. The printing service provider may have used paper which contain chemicals that led to the people falling sick. I need to emphasise that GPW remains committed to the printing of state security documents, and has the capacity and capability to deliver on these products and services,” said GPW Acting CEO Ms Alinah Fosi
Replacement papers that were printed by GPW have already been delivered to the affected districts, for examinations scheduled for Thursday and Friday, (14th and 15th November 2019) respectively, and as a result, there are no anticipated disruptions to the examinations in these districts.
The GPW is working with relevant role players to investigate the source of the problem which resulted in the examination papers having a paint-like smell.
Air-conditioners are critical in the printing environment because these machines uses sophisticated electronic instruments to measure the printing process and these instruments are sensitive to high temperatures. Once the temperature is too high the machines automatically switches to fail mode and shutdown to prevent permanent damage.
The acting CEO Ms Alinah Fosi indicated that “this is a risk that requires a long-term solution for the maintenance of our air-conditioners to ensure that GPW does not find itself in a similar situation in the future”.
For more information contact:
Ms Alinah Fosi (The GPW’s Acting CEO)
Cell: 082 454 5485
E-mail Alina.Fosi@gpw.gov.za
Mr. Ndleleni Boyilane (Deputy Director: Communications)
Te;: 066 296 1493
E-mail: Ndleleni.boyilane@gpw.gov.za
