WATCH | Basic Education Minister Gwarube releases findings on the 2025 NSC exam leak
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube is expected to brief the media and release findings on the NSC exam leak which was limited to seven schools in Pretoria.
Image: Basic Education Department / X
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube is currently releasing the Interim Report of the National Investigative Task Team (NITT) into the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam leak, which has been confined to about 40 learners at seven schools in Pretoria.
Gwarube is expected to outline the investigation’s findings, key recommendations, and the department’s measures to strengthen exam security and maintain public confidence in the NSC system.
Earlier on Friday, Umalusi CEO Dr Mafu Rakometsi confirmed that the exam breach was “localised” and did not undermine the overall credibility of the 2025 NSC results.
“While the number of implicated learners currently stands at around 40, there will be consequences for anyone not included in this number should they be discovered later,” Rakometsi said.
The NITT, appointed by the Department of Basic Education to investigate the source and spread of the leak, presented its findings to Umalusi on January 6.
“The leak was limited to three subjects across seven papers,” Rakometsi said.
“About 40 candidates were implicated out of approximately 600,000 learners who wrote the examinations nationally.”
He said 204,957 learners wrote Physical Sciences, 254,413 wrote Mathematics, and 135,090 wrote English Home Language in 2025.
The breach was first disclosed on December 11, 2025, when Gwarube revealed that 26 pupils at seven Pretoria schools had accessed NSC question papers for English Home Language, Mathematics and Physical Sciences before the examinations.
Rakometsi said Umalusi, which observed the NITT investigation, is empowered to cancel certificates even after they have been issued if irregularities are uncovered.
Learners whose certificates are cancelled must return them within three weeks or face possible fines or imprisonment of up to six months, he said.
“That is the message,” Rakometsi added.
Meanwhile, Gwarube has previously confirmed that several Department of Basic Education employees were suspended following the discovery of the breach during the marking process.
She said the department was alerted on December 2, after markers detected unusual similarities between learner responses and marking guidelines for English Home Language Paper 2.
A deeper investigation revealed that seven exam papers had been accessed before the examination dates and circulated via a USB storage device.
Gwarube said the source of the leak was traced to the department’s own offices, where the exam papers were set.
A staff member with authorised access allegedly shared the papers with another employee in the examination unit.
“Of the 162 papers set for the 2025 NSC examinations, seven were compromised,” she said, adding that there was no evidence the leak had spread beyond the seven Pretoria schools.
The investigation previously included interviews with 26 learners whose scripts were flagged and confirmed that they had prior access to the question papers and marking guidelines.
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