BOSA's Maimane calls out DA, Gwarube for hypocrisy over pass rate
Mmusi Maimane, who was also the former DA leader, has questioned why the DA has changed its tune that an aggregate of 35% required to obtain a matric certificate was too low.
Educations officials attend the announcement of the 2024 matric results on 13 January 2025. Picture: @EducationGP1/X
CAPE TOWN - Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane is calling out the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube for what he said was hypocrisy over the actual pass rate.
For years as the official opposition, the DA has criticised the pass rate, placing it a little above 50%, with the consideration of the dropout rate.
Maimane, who was also the former DA leader, has questioned why the DA has changed its tune that an aggregate of 35% required to obtain a matric certificate was too low.
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Meanwhile, Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi said that too few matriculants were passing maths and science with more than 50% and it was impacting on providing the economy with the skills it needed.
As political parties unpack the statistics of the 87.3% pass of the class of 2024, the value of these results are being interrogated.
Build One South Africa has been lobbying for the pass mark for subjects to be upped from 30% to 50%.
However, Gwarube has already indicated in a parliamentary reply that the department has no immediate plans to up the pass mark.
"Just six months in national government, and the DA and its own minister of basic education has done a 180-degree U-turn and now promotes and defends what is essentially a lie. The DA has chosen power over principle. It is happy to implement the ANC's misleading education system which continues to strip away the potential of young South Africans. The DA is now not just ANC-lite, it is an implementer of ANC policy," said Maimaine.
Meanwhile, Zibi said that his party was concerned that the system was not producing enough matriculants with the required skills to go onto higher education.
"The class of 2024 has succeeded in the face of poor infrastructure and resourcing, crime in and around schools and various communities, and in some instances, basic services," Zibi said.
He said that the National Dialogue must consider reform for better outcomes in maths and science to produce the skills needed for inclusive economic growth.