Committee (HEDCOM) for action
10 February 2009
The Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, has referred the report of the
task team, investigating the delays in releasing matric results, to the Heads
of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM) for action to be taken against
responsible officials.
The Director-General, Duncan Hindle, has confirmed that 701 results are
still outstanding and they will be all be finalised by 15 February 2009, with
the completion of the individual hearings into irregularities.
The task team found that the delay in providing some results was a
combination of shortcomings in the integrated examination computer system,
problems with bandwidth, late registrations, a late start in capturing data, an
absence of standardised protocols for capturing results and a failure to put
adequate monitoring in place for the first national exam.
The Minister requested the Heads of Departments to pay particular attention
to what the task team established about the examination resulting process in
Mpumalanga, where results took the longest to be captured.
In one case a delay was caused by the theft of the data cable in the second
week of November. However, the delay was aggravated by the fact that Mpumalanga
authorities failed to investigate or report the theft to the police. The
inadequate number of data capturers was also a reason for the delay in
releasing the results.
In Mpumalanga there were initially only 16 capturers for 58 459 candidates.
The examination authorities increased the number of capturers to 27 as the
province ran further and further behind, until 60 were employed to catch up in
the end. In the Eastern Cape, in contrast, there were 22 data capturers for 63
285 candidates and all their results were captured in time.
Notes for editors
1. The Minister of Education asked the National Examination Irregularities
Committee (NEIC) to investigate the delays in matric resulting. As provided for
in the mandate of the NEIC, persons of requisite expertise were invited to join
the committee.
2. The members of the task team were M Sishi (Department of Education [DoE]
and chair), JPC Basson (South African Qualifications Authority), JPK Lotter
(Higher Education South Africa), RJ Mello (South African Democratic Teachers'
Association), RJ Burger (South African Teachers' Union), RR Poliah (DoE), AJ
van Rensburg (Irregularities Committee).
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Ministerial Spokesperson
Tel: 012 312 5538
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: ngqengelele.l@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education
10 February 2009
