THE public can now report exam cheats or possible exam fraud syndicates in Mpumalanga to government investigators on a special hotline. Mpumalanga education MEC Craig Padayachee said in a statement on Tuesday the new hotline was meant to compliment other strict measures already in place to ensure the integrity of the 1999 matric exams. These include unannounced physical spot checks at exam and marking centres by special departmental investigators and representatives from organised teachers’ groups. The initiative follows Mpumalanga’s disastrous 1998 matric exams, where crooked officials fraudulently inflated exam marks by over 20% in an apparent attempt to win political and professional favour. The scam, which saw the province get an unprecedented 72,5% average pass-rate and 7000 pupils fraudulently granted matric certificates, has discredited matric results from the province and is still the subject of a police fraud investigation.