R500 million contract for North West matric papers sparks controversy

Education activist Hendrick Makaneta has amplified concerns about the R500 million contract for the printing and delivering of National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination papers in the North West province.

Weekend newspaper reports stated that the five-year contract with joint venture Lebone Altron DSV Consortium will cost the North West province R128 million annually.

On the other hand, the North West department of education has disputed the City Press reports, insisting that the five-year contract will cost the provincial authorities around R100 million annually.

Speaking to IOL, Makaneta who is the director of the Foundation for Education and Social Justice Africa said the contract was “too costly”.

“Spending R500 million on a contract for printing and delivering examination papers is very costly. While it is important to keep papers safe, this huge expenditure raises serious concerns about priorities and transparency. We still have shortages of textbooks and poor infrastructure,” said Makaneta.

“The North West department of education should disclose details of the contract with specific reference to a breakdown of costs, and public engagement on alternatives. Outsourcing must not come at the cost of accountability.”

Makaneta said the South African population deserves to know how learners will benefit from this whole process.

In an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, acting North West deputy director general for exams and curriculum, David Moroeng said the contract extends beyond the printing of examination papers.

“The contract that we have entered into is not only a contract for printing but it is a contract of what we call end-to-end, where we prepare question papers, we print and they are picked up and packaged. Once they are prepared (the question papers), they are going to be stored and then to the different storage points in the province under a secured environment,” he said.

“The previous service provider, that was two to three years ago, it was GPW (Government Printing Works) and we left GPW because we had a one-year SLA (service level agreement) that we had with them. We moved away and started looking for a new service provider.”

Moroeng said for the past two years, the North West provincial department was being hosted by their colleagues - the Gauteng department of education.

“We moved now, starting with our own tender process and we advertised, after advertising we got Lebone Litho consortium and also Altron DSV taking the bid,” he said.

Moroeng said the GPW contract was ranging around R27 million to 29 million but it was limited to printing.

“When we left GPW two years ago, we started paying around R80 million to R90 million in terms of printing. This year, when we started the new contract, we have added some new features that were not there, that is secured printing, secured transportation of the question papers within the province,” he said.

As part of the added services, Moroeng said the new service provider is mandated to transport answer books to the different marking venues across the province.

Last year, IOL reported that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemned the reported R3.6 billion expenditure on printing matric examination papers, accusing the Democratic Alliance (DA) of pushing a privatisation agenda that erodes state capacity.

According to the EFF, the increase in costs is a direct result of the DA’s push for outsourcing critical government functions, which they argue undermines the role of the state in serving its people.

In a statement, the EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys said the party expressed concern that the decision to shift the responsibility for printing National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams from the Government Printing Works (GPW) to private companies would only benefit large corporations, primarily those controlled by white businesses.