Johannesburg - The first report detailing alleged cheating during the matriculation exams at 69 examination centres across the country is expected at the end of January, Umalusi said on Sunday.
“At the end of this month, we should be receiving the first formal report,” said Umalusi spokesman Lucky Ditaunyane.
He said that mid-February was the latest possible period by when the first report would be submitted, but that the target remained the end of January.
Overall, said Ditaunyane: “the investigation is ongoing.”
Late last month, the assessment monitoring body announced that, following a probe, 39 centres in KwaZulu-Natal were implicated in cheating and 19 in the Eastern Cape.
On Sunday, Ditaunyane confirmed that reports of cheating in six centres in Gauteng, two in Mpumulanga and one each in the Western Cape, North West and Northern Cape had also emerged.
Umalusi council chairman Prof John Volmink previously explained that during auditing processes at marking centres, evidence was picked up of “group copying,” whereby it appeared someone had dictated answers, some incorrect, to students.
Umalusi chief executive Mafu Rakometsi has promised “drastic measures” will be taken against all who are found to be involved the cheating.
The centres where reported cheating took place will have their results withheld, when the country's matriculation results are released on Tuesday.
A total of 550 127 full-time and 138 533 part-time candidates wrote the basic education department's examinations. - Sapa