By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Umalusi [Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training in South Africa] CEO Mafu Rakometsi has warned that the learners involved in the 2025 matric exam leak could face severe consequences.
Mafu was speaking during a media briefing on Friday, 9 January 2025.
He said number of students implicated in the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam leak stands at 40.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) detailed the papers and school region believed to have been affected by the breach during a media briefing on 11 December 2025.
It said that markers had flagged an unusual similarity between the answers written by a student writing the English Home Language Paper 2 and the marking guidelines.
Further investigations revealed that the issue affected at least 25 other learners and six additional papers.
The papers affected were English Home Language Paper 1, 2, and 3; Mathematics Paper 1 and 2; and Physical Sciences Paper 1 and 2.
More than 204 000 candidates wrote Physical Sciences, over 254 000 wrote Mathematics, and 135 090 sat for English Home Language.
Rakometsi assured the public that the leak was isolated. He indicated that those implicated could have their certificates cancelled.
“There had been a breach in connection with the NSC mathematics papers one and two, physical sciences papers one and two, and English home language papers one to three, “said Rakometsi.
He added that a national task team was immediately established to investigate the breach and its spread.
The National Investigative Task Team (NITT), appointed by the Department of Basic Education to investigate the source and scope of the leak, presented its findings to Umalusi on January 6.
“The leak was limited to the three subjects, or seven papers mentioned already, and that leak was contained to around 40 candidates in seven examination centres in the Pretoria area, “said Rakometsi.
“Umalusi wants to assure the public that the breach was localised and therefore cannot dent the overall credibility of the 2025 NSC results.”
He added that the Umalusi council may cancel a certificate that has been issued to a learner if, on investigation, it finds that the learner hasn’t met the requirements.
“The council may, by notice in writing, direct a learner whose certificate has been cancelled to return the certificate to the council within three weeks after such notice,” said Rakometsi.
Rakometsi said the final approval statement would outline how the results of the implicated candidates would be handled.
Umalusi chairperson Yunus Ballim provided further context on the scale of the examinations, revealing that the NSC accounted for the largest share of the national candidature.
“As a proportion of the total, the NSC, with more than 927 000 candidates, accounted for the largest share of the total candidature,” Ballim said.
According to Umalusi, 927 143 candidates wrote the NSC across the DBE, the Independent Examinations Board (IEB), and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI). 903 561 full-time and part-time candidates wrote under the DBE, 17 414 sat for the IEB exams, and 6168 wrote SACAI exams.
Ballim acknowledged all participants in a “large and complex” system that meticulously processes over a million scripts, ensuring the integrity of the process is maintained.
He also took the time to encourage those who failed and pleaded with them not to give up. Work harder, and you will do better in this year’s examinations.