By Dylan Bettencourt
- A company charges R100 to desperate matrics for early results while making false promises about delivering marks before the release date.
- Education minister calls in Hawks to catch fraudsters who are taking advantage of nervous students waiting for results.
Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has called in the Hawks and State Security to catch a company claiming it can sell this year’s matric results before they are officially released.
A Johannesburg company called Edumarks is asking matrics to pay R100 to get their results early.
They promise to email students their marks and claim they will refund the money if they fail to deliver.
But the basic education department says this is a scam. Officials believe someone may have breached their exam results system and are determined to uncover who is responsible.
“These people are preying on innocent learners and stealing their money,” an angry Gwarube told reporters on Monday. “We’re going to make arrests — we’re sure of it.”
Edumarks, which started in 2022, tries to convince worried students on its website with sweet talk: “Nobody likes waiting, especially for matric results. We make it easier… We understand the stress of waiting.”
While the Class of 2024 waits nervously for their official results, some students have already paid the scammers. The minister is confident they will catch these criminals.
Meanwhile, the body that checks matric exam quality has given permission for the 2024 results to be released.
Professor Yunus Ballim, who leads Umalusi’s council, says all the results from South Africa’s three main exam bodies can be released. These are the Department of Basic Education, the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and the SA Comprehensive Assessment Institute (Sacai).
Ballim says no big problems were found that could have damaged the honesty of the exams.
But Umalusi’s boss Dr Mafu Rakometsi is worried about cheating in two provinces.
“We remain seriously concerned that KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga are once again at the top of the list,” he said at a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, speaking about pupils caught copying in the exams.
Despite these concerns about copying, the results have been declared fair and can be released to anxious matrics across the country.
Pictured above: Minister Siviwe Gwarube.
Source: Department of Basic Education
This article has been updated.
