Nearly 500 former Mpumalanga matriculants took their fight for the release of withheld examination results to the Constitutional Court in October after losing a High Court appeal, reports the Lowvelder.

About 900 candidates from schools across the province, most of them based in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, had their November 2022 National Senior Certificate results withheld following allegations of cheating during the examinations.

The candidates maintain that they did not cheat. The latest legal challenge follows conflicting High Court rulings over the department’s decision to withhold the results.

Full bench overturns High Court ruling

On August 12, 2024, Acting Judge Johannes Roelofse ruled in favour of the candidates and ordered the Department of Education to release the results. He found that the department had failed to follow its own rules when withholding them.

The department appealed, and a full bench of the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court in Mbombela overturned the ruling on November 19, 2025.

The full bench, led by Deputy Judge President Takalani Ratshibvumo, with acting judges Nicole Mayet and Hermann Fourie concurring, found that the candidates had failed to exhaust internal appeal procedures required under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act before approaching the courts.

The ruling concerned the legal procedures followed by the candidates and did not establish that they had cheated.

Legal team seeks to reinstate original order

Advocate DJ Sibuyi, who represents hundreds of the candidates alongside advocate Buyile Mdluli and attorney Tatenda Magocha of Mthunzi Law Chambers, has approached the Constitutional Court. Attorney Ephraim Khambako represents a smaller group.

Sibuyi is asking the court to reinstate Roelofse’s order, which set aside the department’s administrative decision of March 31, 2023, and directed the release of results covered by the order.

The application seeks to reverse the outcome of the full bench appeal, which prevented the candidates from relying on the original order to secure the release of their results.

Sibuyi confirmed that the matter had been allocated a Constitutional Court case number but declined to comment further, saying he could provide more information once the matter had been heard.

Education sector opposes latest application

Mpumalanga Department of Education spokesperson Gerald Sambo said the basic education sector would oppose the application for leave to appeal.

“The sector is of the considered view that the reasons advanced by the full bench, led by Deputy Judge President Takalani Ratshibvumo, with acting judges Nicole Mayet and Hermann Fourie concurring, are comprehensive, correct and sufficient,” Sambo said.

He said the judgment reaffirmed the importance of protecting the credibility of the national examinations.

Sambo said withholding results following allegations of widespread cheating was necessary and lawful to safeguard the integrity and quality of the examination system.

“The sector remains committed to fairness for all learners, but will not compromise on the integrity of the national examination system,” he said.

Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel.

Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal.