Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube Confirms Hawks Are Investigating Possible 2024 Matric Results Leak

• The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, confirmed that law enforcement is investigating a possible matric results leak
• This is after allegations that a company is under scrutiny for charging R100 for learners to access their matric results
• Gwarube said the Hawks and the State Security are investing in the possible leak, and South Africans were worried

Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues like health, corruption, education, unemployment, labour, service delivery protests and immigration in South Africa during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

JOHANNESBURG — The Minister of Education, Siviwe Gwarube, said arrests would be made after the matric results were allegedly leaked. She said the Hawks and other state Security are probing the alleged leak. This is after the Department said the matric results would be released on 14 January 2025 in the provinces.

Read also

South African rugby legend murdered in Free State on his smallholding

Matric results leaked?

According to Jacaranda FM, Gwarube addressed the media on 13 January 2024. She confirmed that the results would be announced officially at 18h00. She also addressed allegations of a leak of results. A company allegedly offered matriculants their results for R100. She said this breach is grave. It's possible, she said, that the breach occurred when the Department shared the results with other stakeholders.

"This is extremely serious because if there is a breach in our system, there are two processes we need to follow. We need to determine whether our system is secure and airtight enough," she said.

She said if the leak comes from the Department of Basic Education, consequence management will follow. It's also possible that the Department was a victim of cybercrime.

Saga surrounding matric results

• The Information Regulator banned the Department of Basic Education in November 2024 from publishing matric results in newspapers
• The Department filed an appeal to set the ban aside and announced that results would be published in local newspapers
• The Regulator fined the Department R5 million for failing to abide by the ban it earlier issued

Read also

Basic Education allows school enrolment for foreigners without necessary documents, Mzansi furious

South Africans in disbelief

Netizens discussed the implications of the possible breach.

Ramoetlo Tesetso said:

"The Department was not even supposed to release the matric results to media companies, and they should have agreed not to publish them as suggested by the Information Regulator."

Ncebisie Sisulu asked;

"Another breach in the system? Our education deserves better than constant excuses. Fix the system instead of just launching investigations after the damage is done."

Calvin Kekana said:

"These are the results of the GNU: sabotage of one part by another to prove incompetence for the gain of political scores."

Lucrecia Masego Sechele said:

"Hackers are busy at work."

Lolo Makgatho said:

"She is from the DA. They used to call other ministers incompetent. Now it's their turn to be called incompetent."

Mmusi Maimane slams 30% pass mark

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Build One SA president Mmusi Maimane criticised the country's 30% pass mark. He said the pass mark is not something to be proud of.

Read also

Stilfontein: Zama zamas claim over 100 bodies still trapped underground

He said that the reporting based on 30% as a pass mark is a lie as it is not a sufficient pass mark. Some, however, argued that the quality of education is more important than the pass mark.

"The pass rate is not a problem, The quality of the education is the main problem. Teach kids maths and science in their mother tongue and offer soft skills in high school," a netizen said.

Source: Briefly News