Grade 11 pupils in all high schools in the Sinthumule and Kutama areas that fall under the Soutpansberg West Circuit could not write their exams on Monday, following incidents where pupils were found in possession of an agricultural science question paper last Sunday.

Pupils were not allowed to write their exams as the Department of Education in the Vhembe District instructed that it be postponed.

It is alleged that an examiner's daughter and her friends stole a set of question papers from her father's bag at Gogobole village. The girls then allegedly went on a selling spree, offering the paper to all Grade 11 pupils who were to write agriculture in the area.

The fraud apparently came to light after some pupils started complaining about not being given the exam paper, because they did not have money to pay for the paper. They then alerted the police, who took the girls in for questioning. It was, however, not revealed for how much the paper was being sold.

The station commander for the Tshilwavhusiku police, Col Freddy Shirinda, confirmed that they had found some pupils in possession of exam question papers. "We have taken in some pupils for questioning and later released them. No case was opened as we are still waiting for the department to contact us. They only told us that they were still waiting for a directive from the national office," he said.

School pupils from the area said they were disappointed about the fact that the exam was postponed. "It is very demoralizing, because some of us were prepared to write," they said.

An examiner whose paper was stolen from his house said on Tuesday that his daughter's friends were the ones who were allegedly responsible. The man is working as a curriculum advisor at the Soutpansberg East Circuit.

It is said that the girl who allegedly stole the paper did not even take agriculture as subject at school. She allegedly claimed to be doing her friends a favour by stealing the paper for them.

The Department of Education's provincial spokesperson, Mr Pat Kgomo, confirmed on Tuesday that an exam question paper was indeed stolen. He said that there seems to have been a leak and that the department was busy investigating the case and how it happened. "As a result, we were forced to postpone the examination. We are busy trying to look for another date when the paper will be written. We always have other sets (of exam question papers) on standby," said Kgomo.

Asked if it had affected the whole of Vhembe District, Kgomo said that it only affected schools falling under the Soutpansberg West Circuit and a few schools falling under the Soutpansberg East Circuit.