Some of SA's top matrics, hand-picked by the education department for special tutoring to prepare them for university, have been drawn into the biggest scandal to hit the matric exams in years.
An ambitious undertaking to rewrite two exams - a first in SA history - hit a snag yesterday when teacher union Sadtu said it would go to court tomorrow to halt the rewrite.
It has emerged that most of the 195 matric pupils found to have had access to maths paper 2 before it was written were top maths pupils from across SA who had been tutored by Stellenbosch University.
The Sunday Times has seen a copy of the interim report of the national investigation task team that probed the leak of maths paper 2 and physical science paper 2, which revealed that 134 out of the 195 pupils came from the "Top Achievers WhatsApp group".
The pupils had been hand-picked by provincial education departments to receive tutoring to prepare them for university.
If found guilty of cheating, they could be barred from rewriting matric for three years.
Basic education minister Angie Motshekga announced on Friday that all maths and physical science pupils will rewrite maths paper 2 on December 15, and physical science paper 2 on December 17.
A total of 391,000 pupils wrote maths paper 2 and 282,000 originally sat physical science paper 2.
South African Democratic Teachers' Union spokesperson Nomusa Cembi said it would seek an urgent interdict tomorrow to order the department to stop the rewrites.
"There isn't enough conclusive evidence showing the majority of learners did receive the question paper," Cembi said.
The Hawks have confirmed that Themba Daniel Shikwambana, who works for a company contracted to print exam papers, has been arrested in connection with the leaking of maths paper 2.
He was released on bail this week and the case was postponed to January 27.
The number of maths pupils belonging to the WhatsApp group included 23 from Limpopo, 12 from the North West, five from the Eastern Cape, 18 from Gauteng, 14 from the Western Cape, 13 from Mpumalanga, 16 from KwaZulu-Natal, 14 from the Free State and 19 from the Northern Cape.
The remaining 61 who caught sight of the paper were from other WhatsApp groups.
Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen yesterday confirmed to the Sunday Times that staff members from its education faculty tipped off the department of basic education about "perceived irregularities" in maths paper 2.
He said the university's centre for pedagogy manages a talent development programme, "a first opportunity university preparation programme for academically talented pupils in maths and physical science".
The programme launched an integrated "learning management system" to support pupils during the Covid-19 pandemic through online lessons and exam preparations, foundational skills development and resource sharing.
"A very effective and well-managed part of the programme is a WhatsApp group used by learners for peer-to-peer discussions. Hundreds of questions from textbooks and previous exam papers are discussed on this group on a daily basis and access to the WhatsApp group is only open to current members of the talent development programme," said Viljoen.
He said that after maths paper 2 was written, pupils on the WhatsApp group notified the administrators that two questions discussed by the chat group the day before the exam took place were identical to those in the paper.
"The entire paper was not shared on the group, nor were most learners probably aware of the fact that the two questions were from the leaked paper at the time they were shared."
Viljoen said tutors employed by the programme were both university staff and non-university staff experts.
"The academic offering of the talent development programme is presented via tutoring by maths and science experts in supplementary education."
Viljoen said that pupils chosen to benefit from the programme were selected by provincial education departments.
He said that the faculty's staff launched their own investigation and subsequently the dean of education, professor Mbulungeni Madiba, informed the department about the irregularities.
Motshekga said on Friday that "any lingering doubt relating to the credibility of the NSC examinations must be thoroughly investigated and addressed".
"Avoiding prior access to the question paper is what all security measures are directed towards."
Motshekga said after having considered all these factors, the Council of Education Ministers, which is made up of herself and the nine provincial education MECs, decided that a national rewrite of maths paper 2 and physical science paper 2 was necessary.
Meanwhile, the task team found that although the number of pupils found to have had prior access to the paper was small, there was a "viral spread of information on the cyber networks".
"Only 71 of the 195 were interviewed and it was virtually impossible to accurately identify the number of learners who had access," the report says, adding that the majority of pupils were from the Top Achievers chat group.
Other findings concerning the leakage of maths paper 2 included that pupils received the question paper at about 10pm on the night before the exam and that most of them accessed their WhatsApp after the paper had been written.
"Most claim only two questions had been posted," the report says.
The report states that 66 pupils had access to physical science paper 2, including 55 from the Eastern Cape, six from Gauteng and five from KwaZulu-Natal.
The report states that the six pupils from Gauteng were contacted but they denied having been in possession of the paper.
"Six learners from KwaZulu-Natal are currently being investigated. Learners from the Top Achiever chat group were not implicated [in the science paper] and the chat group was suspended."
The report indicated that investigators experienced several challenges while probing the scandal, including pupils "closing ranks" and "briefing one another on how to respond or not to respond".
"Appointing a forensic investigator to assist with cellphone record analysis will imply obtaining a court order to access cellphone information," the report says.
Meanwhile, furious pupils took to Twitter immediately after Motshekga's announcement to vent their frustration.
Meelane Khomotso tweeted: "We will not write just because a few students saw the paper now we must all suffer due to the department's incompetence."
Ndumiso Majola tweeted: "So what about learners who never even saw the paper; it's been a difficult year for these matriculants. Papers leak every year, is anyone held accountable?"
Commenting on the 134 pupils from the Top Achievers WhatsApp group, basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the investigation is continuing to establish how the leaked papers landed on their group.
"Once the facts have been established a hearing will take place."
He said that the maximum penalty is a three-year ban from writing matric exams.
"However, we need to shift the focus to the adults who actually initiate the leaks. The learners are recipients of what was leaked ordinarily by an adult person in a position of responsibility. We need to ensure that those people or persons are sent to jail when found guilty."
Professor Rajendran Govender, president of the Association for Mathematics Education of SA (Amesa), said that though they "understood learners' concerns and frustrations", the evidence showed that the exams were compromised.
"It's a high risk to mark those papers and pronounce on the results and say it's credible. We carry that risk with a tag for years to come if they are not rewritten."
Professor Labby Ramrathan from the University of KwaZulu-Natal's school of education questioned why pupils from the Top Achievers WhatsApp group would want to jeopardise their future "even if they had access to the paper".
"It's so obvious they will be caught. It begins to open up another space of inquiry and that's about the psychology of people in exam times."
Ramrathan said that the issue of top achievers having access to the paper was a big problem, "and maybe a rewrite is justified".
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