Mpumalanga Division of the High Court to hear National Department of Education’s appeal in March

On January 31, he National Department of Basic Education’s high court appeal on the withheld results of some 2022 matrics was postponed to March.

This means the plaintiffs will still not be able to apply or register for further studies while waiting on the outcome.

The Mpumalanga Division of the High Court’s officials communicated the postponement to Adv DJ Sibuyi of Mthunzi Law Chambers, who represents more than 300 of the plaintiffs, and Ephraim Khambako, who represents another group, after 16:00 on January 30.

“It was a day before the scheduled appeal hearing. The court rescheduled the matter to any time between March 26 to 28,” said Khambako.

“Under the circumstances, this means our clients will enter a third year without knowing what their future holds. They cannot be admitted into a university or any institution of higher learning until the matter is resolved.”

Meanwhile, this publication reached out to the Office of the Chief Justice’s (OCJ) communications department to understand what really led to the postponement of the case.

“On Thursday [January 30], the parties in the matter, Rodgers Mkhonto and 62 learners/Minister of basic education and four others: Case no. A70/2022, were formally notified that the documents filed were not in accordance with the practice directives as issued by the court. As such, this matter could not be heard and was removed from the roll, and parties were alerted and requested to rectify the documentation,” said a statement from the OCJ.

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“On Friday [January 31], a response was received affirming a commitment by all parties in the matter to rectify the court bundles. The parties will have to re-enrol the matter once they are able to comply.”

Sibuyi said an agreement was reached with all parties that the matter must return to court in March.

The high court had ruled in favour of the plaintiffs on August 12 last year and ordered the education department to release their results during a scathing landmark judgment.

This ruling was mostly based on the department’s failure at the time to follow its own rules regarding the procedures for withholding results and the subsequent investigations.

After some suspicions of cheating arose, the department called the learners to attend disciplinary hearings and found them guilty of irregularities during the exams. Some of the learners were allegedly not even accompanied by their parents during the hearing.

Most of the affected matriculants were from high schools in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, including Eric Nxumalo in Thulamahashe, Dlumani in Manyeleti, Mhlangana in Islington, Freddy Sithole in Buyisonto, Ngungunyane in New Forest and many others.

One of their parents, Nomsa Zwane, said she has now reregistered her daughter for matric this year. “I could not wait anymore, because the years are not waiting for the courts.”

The national education department’s spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, could not be reached by phone and had not responded to written queries regarding this matter by the time of going to press.