Mpumalanga matrics finally get results

2011-01-20 18:34

Mbombela - It's taken a year, but the outstanding certificates for Mpumalanga matriculants who wrote the 2009 supplementary matric exams have finally been released.

Provincial education spokesperson Jasper Zwane told African Eye News Service that the 1 500 certificates were released last week and were available at schools from Monday this week.

“We would like to apologise for the delay in issuing the certificates," he said. "We distributed all 1 500 certificates to the respective schools last week and affected pupils are requested to go to the schools and get their results."

He blamed the delay on pupils who applied to have their supplementary papers remarked.

The matric supplementary exams were written early last year.

Zwane said matrics who attended Further Education and Training (FET) colleges could collect their results from their respective colleges.

Zwane dismissed the Democratic Alliance's threats to take the department to court if the results were delayed any further.

“The DA is exaggerating. We were always in contact with the affected learners and they understood that we were doing everything to get the certificates,” he said.

Legal action

Provincial DA spokesperson Ashleigh Trichardt said the education department was being dishonest as not all outstanding certificates had been released yet.

“If all the outstanding certificates were distributed to schools last week, then why are we still getting complaints this week from more than 80 pupils and six schools?” asked Trichardt.

She said the DA was consulting lawyers about taking legal action against the department on behalf of the pupils who are still waiting for the certificates.

“We already have a mandate from 70 pupils to go ahead and take legal action on their behalf,” she said.

Trichardt said since November 2009, the DA had written numerous letters to MEC Regina Mhaule and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga asking for assistance in obtaining the results of re-written and re-marked papers, as well as matric certificates, but to little or no avail.

“The DA believes that the only way these learners will ever obtain their certificates is to get a court order instructing the departments to issue the outstanding results and certificates,” she said.

She said there were still matrics from the class of 2008 who had not received their results either.

According to Zwane, all outstanding 2008 matric certificates were, however, released last year.

“As far as we are concerned no learners have complained to us that they have not received their 2008 certificates, only the 2009 certificates were outstanding,” he said.

- African Eye