Unisa exam theft rocks Unam, Police called in

THE 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.