EFF condemns the delayed release of 2022 matric results

12 January 2023

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemns the unprecedented delay in the release of final examination matriculant results for the year 2022. Inexplicably the results of matriculants are set to be released on the 20th of January 2023, a delay that has a ripple effect on the transition of learners to the post-secondary education and training sector, and affects planning by families who are unable to proceed with any logistical arrangements relating to their children's post-matriculant studies.

Year after year, the Department of Basic Education finds ways to exhibit incompetence when it relates to matriculants and the handling of the process in its entirety. If it is not scandals such as the leaking of examination papers which results in cheating, or appalling results in schools which perennially underperform with no intervention, it is this blatant failure to synchronise systems to ensure that results of learners are released before the academic year begins in Primary and High Schools.

The delay has an added impact on already financially hamstrung families, who have to manage the high-cost of living while also considering the costs of travel that relate to their children going to Universities, Universities of Technology and TVET Colleges'.

The futures of thousands of young people are on hold as they do not know whether they have qualified for the various streams of study the may have applied for, creating and added and unnecessary anxiety.

Furthermore, many students from underprivileged backgrounds have for numerous socio-economic reasons been unable to apply for education at institutions of higher learning and as a result will require time to seek out an appropriate institution of higher learning and source funding for their studies. The delay in the release of the examination results undercuts their ability undertake these actions, making their experience difficult and daunting in an environment where education is already a commercialised reserve for the rich.

The EFF calls for the Department of Basic Education, which is led by an ancestor who has retained the post for over a decade, to desist from jeopardising the lives of young people with their blatant incompetence. It is unjustifiable that an examination process which concluded on the 7th of December 2022, has not yielded results to date.

We as the EFF will propose legislative and policy amendments which will make it compulsory and non-negotiable for the Department of Basic Education to release senior certificate results within a reasonable period, so as to allow for a smooth and efficient transition to post-secondary education and training sectors.

Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 12 January 2023