I suppose it caused a bit of a laugh and an adrenalin rush when the first few matric pupils started distributing the stolen Life Sciences exam paper. It probably felt exciting to pass it on to some friends via Whatsapp. Perhaps they thought that an evil deed is less disgusting when shared.

In the real world, however, these criminals (because they are nothing less) caused immeasurable damage to the lives of thousands of people. Apart from the inconvenience to the thousands of matriculants who had to return home to rewrite the exams and the costs involved, the long-term damage is far-reaching.

I have a son with a dream to study drama, and more specifically at the University of Cape Town. (This is obviously not the choice of career that his mother and father had in mind for him, but fortunately our children have a will of their own.) In order to be admitted to the drama department, prospective students had to attend the audition sessions held in Cape Town. These dates were set for 3 and 4 December. As luck (in this case, bad luck) would have it, the Life Sciences exams had to be rewritten on 4 and 8 December.

We had already booked our flights to Cape Town several weeks before and the plan was to fly to Cape Town on the Wednesday and return on the same weekend.

When the first rumours surfaced that the exams would have to be rewritten, I wrote to UCT’s drama department, asking them whether or not any other dates would be allocated for the auditions to accommodate students from the northern part of the country. The answer was that it would not be possible. “But you are effectively denying students from Limpopo an opportunity to study at UCT,” I argued, but I had to accept it as a fait accompli.

In an effort to mitigate some of the disappointment, I suggested to my son that he invite a friend and that the two of them go and spend a few days relaxing in Cape Town after the last exams. The plan was to change the flight details to later dates and transfer my ticket to my son’s friend.
My good intentions, however, did not go down well with Kulula, the low-cost airline I booked the flights with. “We do not do name changes,” I was promptly informed. The airline was willing to change the flight detail on one of the tickets, but there would be quite a cost implication. As far as the ticket issued in my name was concerned, the only option was to cancel this, but that would come at a 100% cancellation fee.

My argument that the changes were necessitated by a force de majeure made no difference. Even when I asked that the request be escalated to a more senior person, I was told “they will tell you the same thing.” I argued that this is in contravention of the Consumer Protection Act that gives consumers the right to change advance bookings without being unfairly penalised, but to no avail. At least the lady who had initially heard my plea had been honest, as my subsequent letters to Kulula only resulted in a similar reply.

I don’t know what frustrates me most – the criminals who stole the exam papers or the businesses that, in my opinion, have a fairly skewed perception of the rights of consumers. The criminals who stole and distributed the exam papers acted out of self-interest, but some businesses do exactly the same. If a consumer parts with his or her hard-earned money to pay for a product or service, there is a legitimate expectation that such a product will be received or the service will be rendered. If the service cannot be rendered, for whatever reason, I don’t believe that it is fair to keep the customer’s money.

We have some really good legislation in our country. Our laws to protect consumers are probably up there with the best in the world. It is unfortunate that laws should prescribe to people (and businesses) what they should have done in any case.

In spite of the inconvenience that was caused by the Education Department’s actions, I respect their integrity. They did not “let it slip” and allow the criminals to get away with their behaviour. They took a strong stance and, hopefully, this will send out a message to future generations of matriculants to not try a similar stunt.

As far as the airline is concerned, I gave up trying to argue with them. I reported the matter to the National Consumer Commission and I now put my trust in them to uphold the law. For the time being, I will use another airline when travelling.

- Anton van Zyl