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ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 11 • 21 - 27 May 2010

KWAMHLANGA

The life of a 20-year-old woman from Zakheni village near KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, has been put on hold for the last two years because the Department of Education has still not released her complete matric results. _Simphiwe Duba wrote her matric exam in seven subjects at Zakheni High School in 2008 but is yet to receive the results for two subjects, without which she cannot get a certificate.

In January last year, when other learners received their results, Simphiwe was told she would have to wait until August for hers. But when she finally got them, her name, surname and ID number were incorrect and the results for two subjects - life orientation and agricultural science - were missing.

“I went to the school and they referred the matter to the Nkangala regional examination centre,” said Simphiwe.

The department of education’s local office said she should rewrite the two subjects during the final exam session in October last year because it was still conducting an investigation into the matter. _Simphiwe dutifully repeated the exams in those two subjects, but when the matric results were released earlier this year, hers stated that she had written only agricultural science, which she had failed.

“After many inquiries, the department finally said last month that I share an ID number with another candidate and that it is still investigating. They said I should rewrite all seven subjects during this year’s matric exams because their investigation will still take a long time,” said Simphiwe. “That means I will have to rewrite five subjects that I’ve already passed! And what happened to my life orientation results?” _Simphiwe says her life has been a misery because she cannot pursue her dreams of becoming a traffic officer.

“I am so stressed about the department’s negligence. I gave them my correct particulars when I wrote the exam in the first place. I have now lost hope with the department. My career has been put on hold and I am even doubtful of my results if I rewrite everything this year, because they still cannot tell me what went wrong with my correct particulars and my results in the first place,” said a tearful Simphiwe.

The ID number on the matric results does not correspond with the one in her ID book and instead of listing her name as Simphiwe Sesana Duba it calls her Simphiwe Pretty Dube.

Simphiwe’ shocked mom, Letta Duba (59), asked education MEC Rreginah Mhaule to intervene to solve her daughter’s problem. _”I am shocked. The department promised to investigate the matter, but nothing has been solved. They advised my stressed child to rewrite all her subjects instead of coming up with a real solution to the problem. My child deserves her results and I urge the MEC to come to our rescue,” said Letta.

The head of examinations in the Nkangala region, PK Ntuli, said Simphiwe’s problem had been caused by the provincial head office’s capturing system and that he was still waiting for a report from head office._“The matter has been referred to our head office because it is a common problem they have with their capturing system. She is among many learners whose particulars had been wrongly spelled by the department and she therefore needs to rewrite all the subjects while waiting for the head office report, which might still take long,” was all Ntuli could advise

Mpumalanga education department spokesperson Jasper Zwane could not be reached for comment.