Zimbabwean matric candidates likely to return to SA for 2026 exams

Zimbabwean Grade 12 pupils who left South Africa and were unable to register for their matric exams could receive assistance to return and write the 2026 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.

The Zimbabwe Exemption Permit Coordinating Committee (ZEPCC) has approached the Department of Basic Education with a plan to assist affected learners ahead of the exams, which start in October.

However, the department says the plan is still in draft form and has not yet been given final approval.

Lukhanyo Vangqa, spokesperson for the Minister of Basic Education, said the department had been approached by the committee and was working through the necessary processes.

“The plan is still in its draft phase now, and… We hope to finalise it soon,” Vangqa said.

The proposal needs to go through several processes, including consideration by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Immigration and consultation with Umalusi before the Minister of Basic Education makes a final input.

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Documentation does not automatically prevent learners from writing

Vangqa said learners do not necessarily need South African identification documents to write the NSC exams.

“They would need to have some form of identification. It doesn’t have to be South African,” he said.

Where learners do not have identification, an affidavit can be used. Vangqa said learners who had been at a school for more than a year could also have teachers attest to their identity or confirm that they know them.

He said identification requirements were intended to prevent fraud rather than exclude learners from examinations.

“The exam room doesn’t use identification as a form of exclusion, but it’s to positively identify a learner so that we prevent other individuals writing on behalf of other individuals and committing fraud against the NSC exams.”

Learners cannot write the NSC from Zimbabwe

Any affected pupils who return to South Africa would have to write their exams at an accredited examination centre.

Vangqa said the location would depend on the circumstances but confirmed that NSC exams cannot be written at a centre outside the country.

“So, the NSC exam is guided by the South African Schools Act, and that act is only applicable within the borders of South Africa,” he said.

The number of affected learners is also not yet definitive.

Vangqa said the ZEPCC’s figure was around 149 when the department last checked but added that the number changes as individual cases emerge.

He cited a recent case in the Eastern Cape involving a learner whose mother was no longer present and who had not been properly adopted by the family member with whom they were living.

Department working against the clock

With the first NSC exam due to start on 13 October, there is limited time to finalise arrangements for affected learners.

Vangqa said officials were working late into the night to move the process forward.

“The last discussion we had of this plan, let me tell you now, was at half past four this morning,” he said. “So, we are not sleeping. We are spending sleepless nights to try and move things along as quickly as possible to assist the learners.”

He said accommodating additional learners would complicate logistical planning, but the department had contingencies built into its NSC examination system.

“We should be able to accommodate any challenges that we find in the environment,” Vangqa said.

He also urged parents and learners not to assume that documentation problems meant they could not register.

“I would advise parents and learners, whether or not they are legally here or whether or not they have identification, to ensure that the learner is registered for the NSC exams and all the other processes can then follow later.”

Vangqa warned that failing to register could create further complications because learners would then fall outside the guidelines and regulations governing the NSC exams.