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Unisa exam theft rocks Unam, Police called in
By: * CHRISTOF MALETSKYTHE Police have been called into investigate the Friday night theft of several University of South Africa (Unisa) exam papers from the University of Namibia.
The theft holds far-reaching repercussions.
Unisa not only operates in South Africa, it also has exam
centres in 24 other African countries and 59 countries outside the
continent, with thousands of students who sit the the same
papers.
The Namibian understands that heads are also set to roll at Unam
today.
Unam's Director of Communication, Edwin Tjiramba, confirmed
yesterday that some staff in the department of external studies
would be suspended today.
"We are going full steam ahead with the investigation.
No one is suspended as yet but we expect it to happen tomorrow,"
Tjiramba said.
The Namibian reported the theft of the Unisa exam papers
yesterday after staff confirmed information passed on anonymously
to the newspaper.
An anonymous source tipped off The Namibian that the offices of
the centre for external studies were broken into at around 22h00 on
Friday, allegedly by students, including five South Africans who
are reported to have travelled to Windhoek to steal the papers.
The South Africans are said to have returned home on
Saturday.
At least five exam papers were stolen, copied and returned to
the Unam offices.
These included papers on Applied Financial Accounting
(TOE407-V), Applied Management Accounting (TOE408-W), Theory of
Accounting (TOECTA-E), one law paper and one on credit finance
management.
According to the source, the thieves found a red-and-white
envelope, marked 'Vries', which was delivered on October 5, on the
desk of Rosa Persendt, Distance Education Officer at Unam.
They allegedly opened the envelope, took one of the seven exam
papers from a sealed plastic bag inside the envelope, made a copy
and glued the envelope shut again.
The envelope contained exam papers for a law subject that was
supposed to be written on October 18.
Over the weekend, Persendt said she had received several boxes
of exam papers on Friday and had moved them to another office with
a safe that same afternoon.
Only people in possession of a secret code could enter that
office, she said.
Persendt said that an adjacent office was broken into but said
the thieves were unable to lay their hands on the papers.
Yesterday, however, Kelvin Beckworth from Unisa's exams
department said they had received similar information about the
break-in to that reported in The Namibian.
When The Namibian described one of the envelopes to him, he
confirmed that such an envelope had been sent to Unam.
Both Beckworth and Tjiramba said they were in contact as
investigations continued.
Tjiramba said none of the papers mentioned by The Namibian would
be written.
TOE407-V was supposed to be written on October 17, TOE408-W on
October 24 and TOECTA-E on October 27.
According to the anonymous source who contacted The Namibian on
Saturday, the thieves made a hole in the ceiling of a storeroom -
which contained a photocopier - and entered the room where the
papers were kept through the roof.
They opened the envelopes, went back to the storeroom, made
copies of the papers, glued the envelopes shut again and returned
them to the right office.
The five South African students allegedly tried to sell one of
the papers to a local student for N$2 000.
It was not clear yesterday whether they managed to sell any exam
papers in Namibia.
Unisa not only operates in South Africa, it also has exam centres
in 24 other African countries and 59 countries outside the
continent, with thousands of students who sit the the same
papers.The Namibian understands that heads are also set to roll at
Unam today.Unam's Director of Communication, Edwin Tjiramba,
confirmed yesterday that some staff in the department of external
studies would be suspended today."We are going full steam ahead
with the investigation.No one is suspended as yet but we expect it
to happen tomorrow," Tjiramba said.The Namibian reported the theft
of the Unisa exam papers yesterday after staff confirmed
information passed on anonymously to the newspaper.An anonymous
source tipped off The Namibian that the offices of the centre for
external studies were broken into at around 22h00 on Friday,
allegedly by students, including five South Africans who are
reported to have travelled to Windhoek to steal the papers.The
South Africans are said to have returned home on Saturday. At least
five exam papers were stolen, copied and returned to the Unam
offices.These included papers on Applied Financial Accounting
(TOE407-V), Applied Management Accounting (TOE408-W), Theory of
Accounting (TOECTA-E), one law paper and one on credit finance
management. According to the source, the thieves found a
red-and-white envelope, marked 'Vries', which was delivered on
October 5, on the desk of Rosa Persendt, Distance Education Officer
at Unam.They allegedly opened the envelope, took one of the seven
exam papers from a sealed plastic bag inside the envelope, made a
copy and glued the envelope shut again.The envelope contained exam
papers for a law subject that was supposed to be written on October
18.Over the weekend, Persendt said she had received several boxes
of exam papers on Friday and had moved them to another office with
a safe that same afternoon.Only people in possession of a secret
code could enter that office, she said.Persendt said that an
adjacent office was broken into but said the thieves were unable to
lay their hands on the papers.Yesterday, however, Kelvin Beckworth
from Unisa's exams department said they had received similar
information about the break-in to that reported in The
Namibian.When The Namibian described one of the envelopes to him,
he confirmed that such an envelope had been sent to Unam.Both
Beckworth and Tjiramba said they were in contact as investigations
continued.Tjiramba said none of the papers mentioned by The
Namibian would be written.TOE407-V was supposed to be written on
October 17, TOE408-W on October 24 and TOECTA-E on October
27.According to the anonymous source who contacted The Namibian on
Saturday, the thieves made a hole in the ceiling of a storeroom -
which contained a photocopier - and entered the room where the
papers were kept through the roof.They opened the envelopes, went
back to the storeroom, made copies of the papers, glued the
envelopes shut again and returned them to the right office.The five
South African students allegedly tried to sell one of the papers to
a local student for N$2 000.It was not clear yesterday whether they
managed to sell any exam papers in Namibia.
