Minister ofBasic Education Siviwe Gwarube believes the 2025 National Senior Certificate exams remain credible despite a contained leak affecting 40 candidates. Umalusi has approved the results release but issued strict recommendations. The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, has assured the public that the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams remain credible despite a detected security breach involving leaked exam papers.
Gwarube was speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Friday, 9 January 2025, following the National Investigative Task Team’s (NITT) presentation of interim findings on the breach to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Umalusi. “Let me reiterate, we will not compromise the future of thousands of honest learners because of the actions of a few. We will not leave any stone unturned in ensuring accountability and safeguarding the credibility of the NSC certificate,” said Gwarube.
The breach, revealed by Gwarube in December, involved pupils at seven Pretoria schools accessing papers for English Home Language (papers 1, 2, and 3), Mathematics (papers 1 and 2) and Physical Science (papers 1 and 2) before the exams. Gwarube said the department would not publicly name the schools involved. “School-level analysis was used purely as an investigative tool.
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Culpability attaches to individuals, not institutions, unless evidence establishes otherwise. Schools in the Tshwane area should not be presumed implicated by association,” she said. The results of the 40 implicated candidates will be temporarily withheld while formal irregularity processes are concluded.
The NITT was chaired by Professor Chika Sehoole with Brian Schreuder as his deputy, alongside education experts, labour union representatives and South African Council for Educators members. Umalusi was included as an observer. The team’s mandate focused on tracing the breach’s source and spread, identifying affected learners, recommending remedies and preventing future occurrences.
Using digital forensics, data patterns, additional marking checks and interviews, the NITT traced the breach to the department’s secure exam-paper system environment, where question papers are set, handled and stored. A department official whose child wrote the NSC 2025 is implicated, with the learner sharing material. A second official’s involvement is under verification, while forensic work with law enforcement continues. Sehoole provided a comprehensive overview of the investigation, noting alignment with DBE protocols, including forensic investigation, statistical analysis, investigative marking, learner interviews and discussions with invigilators and chief markers.
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