Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi on Tuesday sharply criticised community leaders in Tsakani and KwaThema after the district emerged as the province’s worst-performing area in the 2025 matric examinations.
Speaking at the Gauteng National Senior Certificate (NSC) results announcement in Centurion, Lesufi blamed repeated school disruptions linked to service delivery protests for undermining students’ academic performance.
“Tsakani and KwaThema districts, you are the worst-performing district this year,” Lesufi said.
“Instead of resolving problems with your municipalities, you are chasing children outside the school.”
‘Selfish’ leadership blamed for poor matric results
Lesufi said schools in the district were shut down as many as 17 times during the year due to community protests over water and electricity outages.
“If your municipality switches off water because people are not paying, or electricity is struck by lightning, the community closes schools and moves children out,” he said.
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He described this as a “bad habit that must be stopped” and accused community leaders of placing their grievances above students’ futures.
“You are selfish. You got education during your time, but you are denying children education in their time,” Lesufi said.
He warned that provincial authorities would intervene in the affected district, adding that even capable officials could not succeed in an environment of constant disruption.
Call to end divisions in the education system
Beyond district performance, Lesufi used the platform to argue for a single national examination system, saying the distinction between Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and NSC candidates was no longer justified.
“Umalusi is the same evaluator. The pass mark is the same. We must not divide our children,” he said.
Lesufi said the performance gap between fee-paying and no-fee schools had narrowed to 7%, warning against structural advantages that favoured one group of pupils over another.
“There must be no generation in our country that gets an advantage and another that is disadvantaged,” he said.
MEC warns underperforming schools
Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane echoed the premier’s stance, warning that the department would no longer tolerate poor performance despite the province achieving a record 89.06% matric pass rate.
“We will not accept schools performing below 70%. We will not accept teachers in key subjects not meeting the standard,” Chiloane said.
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Of the 140 927 pupils who wrote matric in Gauteng, 125 513 passed, with all 15 districts recording pass rates above 83%.
However, Chiloane said 19 schools still performing below the minimum threshold would face immediate intervention.
“The department will undertake rapid evaluations, and where management or teaching is the barrier, we will act,” he said.
He stressed that the measures were aimed at support rather than punishment, saying the goal was to “accelerate change” and protect pupils’ futures.
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