Nelson Mandela Bay became the first district in the Eastern Cape to earn a spot in the coveted “A club” when the class of 2019 achieved an overall matric pass rate of 81.3% — up 5.3 percentage points on 2018.

The district’s matriculants who wrote the 2019 national senior certificate examinations also took pole position in the province in terms of bachelors passes at 39.2% and distinction passes at 4.5%...