The High Court in Pretoria will tomorrow deliver judgment on an application challenging the instruction by the Department of Basic Education for the rewriting of two leaked matric exam papers. The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), AfriForum and independent pupils brought the application on an urgent basis.
The two papers in question are Physical Science Paper Two and Mathematics Paper Two. The parties are seeking an urgent court interdict against Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s announcement that the two papers must be rewritten.
They want the court to halt the impending rewrite of the papers. They are asking the court for an order to set aside the announcement that leaked papers must be rewritten.
They also want the court to compel the Department and quality assurance body Umalusi to mark the scripts of four learners represented by AfriForum and those who were not involved in the alleged irregularity regarding the leaked papers.
Equal Education is also against the rewrite:
The four learners that AfriForum represents were in court. One of them, Annika Janse van Rensburg of Menlo Park Hoërskool says it is unfair on them to rewrite because they never saw the leaked examination papers.
“I don’t want to write because I am innocent and I haven’t cheated. I haven’t seen the exam papers. So, I just feel that is very not right, to let innocent people write.”
Janse van Rensburg and three other learners were represented by AfriForum’s Willie Spies. Spies outlined what they sought from the court.
“Our prayer for the record, firstly was that the rewrite of the exam is interdicted. In other words, there is an interdict against the rewrite of next Tuesday and Thursday. Secondly, an order compelling the department to mark the answering scripts of those learners who wrote the exams, to allocate those marks and to publish those marks. And lastly also for an interdict to prevent the department from destroying the answering scripts of the two contested examinations.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Basic Education says it has full confidence in the justice system.
“Either way we are ready for it. We have put a strong case. It’s there in our documents and we believe that we have explained the intricacies of running the examinations and the challenges that we faced during the investigation. And we believe that the judge will use all the input that we made today to make the ruling. So we are waiting for it,” says the Department’s Spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga.
Mhlanga outlines the department’s view on the court case:
Judgment will be delivered electronically at 2pm tomorrow.
