NSC exam leak traced to Pretoria schools: DBE's Gwarube reassures on security
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has confirmed that the 2025 matric exam leak was traced to DBE headquarters and confined to seven Pretoria schools, insisting the breach proves the system’s safeguards are working.
Image: Murray Swart
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has confirmed a breach of the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, traced back to its own national offices and linked to seven schools in Pretoria, a development drawing national attention as Cape Town prepares for the January matric results release.
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday morning at Parliament, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the detection shows the country’s exam-security system remains strong. “Our systems worked exactly as they were designed to do: to detect, isolate, investigate and address any manipulation of the NSC exams.”
The leak was uncovered on December 2 when Gauteng markers detected “an unusual similarity between the answers provided by a candidate with the answer provided in the marking guideline for English Home Language Paper 2.” Gwarube said this “raised an immediate red flag and triggered standard protocols.”
Twenty-six learners were interviewed, and those questioned “admitted having prior access to both the English Home Language Paper 2 question paper and the marking guideline.” Investigators concluded the leaked paper “could only have originated from the National Department of Basic Education’s offices.”
The breach extended to English Home Language, Mathematics and Physical Sciences papers but appears contained. “The spread seems to be confined to identified learners in seven schools in a specific area in Pretoria,” Gwarube said, adding there was “no evidence that the breach spread beyond this localised area.”
Two DBE employees, one in the examinations unit and another with a Grade 12 child have been suspended. The department is also establishing a National Investigative Task Team within 24 hours, including “an independent chairperson; Umalusi; Universities South Africa; Teacher Unions; SAQA; DBE officials; and a private forensic investigator.”
Gwarube stressed that “no results have been finalised; no certification processes have begun,” and reassured parents across Cape Town and the country that the NSC remains secure. “This is not an announcement of system failure. It is a demonstration of the strength of our systems.”
Her warning to learners was direct: “You cannot cheat the NSC system and get away with it.”
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