/ 17 November 1997

Arrested youths can write

MONDAY 2.30AM:

SIXTEEN youths arrested on Sunday when found selling biology matric exam papers in Lenasia, near Johannesburg, have been released in time to write their Monday exams. But they will still be expected to appear in court on Wednesday to face fraud charges.

The Gauteng matric biology exam went ahead because, said an Education Department spokesman, the leak was limited. It is not yet clear whether the exams on sale where the same as the ones written on Monday. Earlier, Gauteng education MEC Mary Metcalfe thanked police and hailed the arrests as an important breakthrough in the investigation into exam paper leaks.

Metcalfe, who promised to tighten exam security this year after a string of fraud cases during last year’s Gauregn matric exams, has again been embarrassed by at least three suspected cases of fraud during the current exams.