Probe begins at scam schools

2005-01-16 23:02

Linda de Nysschen

Nelspruit - A task team of Mpumalanga's education department will on Monday start an investigation of the 10 schools where cheating allegedly took place during last year's matric examinations.

Education MEC Siphosezwe Masango said the exam timetables of schools would be checked, among other things, to see which teachers supervised the exams in which pupils were allegedly given assistance.

Teachers who, for example, helped pupils with answers or handed out answer sheets, will be "punished severely". The task team must also identify individual pupils who cheated.

These pupils will not be able to write exams for at least two years.

The answer papers at four other schools that are under suspicion and whose results were held back will be sent to Umalusi (the council for quality assurance) for analysis this week.

DA wants independent investigation

The DA, however, says the education department cannot investigate itself, because it is a "suspect" in the case.

The party is demanding an independent forensic investigation.

The party's education spokesperson, Helen Zille, said Umalusi would have approved results on December 20 on the grounds of the department's information that the exam was completed without any incident, if the police had not intervened.

In a separate police investigation, the alleged payments of exorbitant amounts in the accounts of "phantom markers" are being investigated.

This comes after the account details of real markers were changed on their claim forms. These markers never received their money.

Masango says he was told more than R1m was deposited into various bank accounts in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

- Beeld