Twitter: Siviwe Gwarube
An investigation has been launched to determine whether there was a breach in releasing the 2024 national matric exam results.
Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube on Monday confirmed that the Hawks and State Security had become involved, as they suspect they have fallen victim to a Cyber Crime.
The announcement came just minutes before Gwarube was set to honour the country's top achievers and the official pronouncement of the results by the Quality Council for General and Further Education and Training in South Africa (Umalusi).
Gwarube said it came to light that a platform had been created where what was claimed to be authentic matric results were sold to learners.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) kept mum for 48 hours as the Hawk's investigation was at a sensitive stage.
"They were preying on innocent learners and siphoning them of their money."
Despite the possible breach, Gwarube gave the assurance that it did not affect the integrity of the results in any way.
"I want to ensure South Africans that the results have been insulated from any manipulation.
"Whatever breach may have happened, happened at the tail end of the verified results.
"We are taking this very seriously and we want an arrest to be made. We are confident that law enforcement agencies are moving at pace to make sure this is done," she said.
Finding out whether the DBE's systems were secure and airtight enough formed part of the investigation.
Once the results have been completed it has to be shared with certain stakeholders so that they can start getting ready with their own processes.
"There is a real possibility that there may have been a breach with that process.
"If the breach was on the part of the DBE, consequences will follow," Gwarube confirmed.
