The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has dismissed an urgent application by the Information Regulator to block the publication of the 2024 matric results, ruling in favour of the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The court’s decision means that the department can release the matric results for public consumption on Monday, 13 January 2025.
Judge Ronel Tolmay found that the urgency of the case was self-created by the Information Regulator and stated that no evidence had been provided to show harm to the learners’ rights.
“The interest of the affected learners should have taken centre stage, but it did not. There is nothing before me to indicate any prejudice to learners. The applicant should have at the very least addressed this aspect in their submissions,” Tolmay explained in her judgment.
The ruling allows the DBE to proceed with its planned release of matric results, which will be available in newspapers and on digital platforms.
Speaking on VOC’s News Beat show, DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga confirmed that the department will go ahead as planned.
Mhlanga clarified that while the names of candidates will not be published, their exam numbers will be made available.
“We don’t publish names anymore; we only publish the candidates’ exam numbers, and we haven’t had any concerns from the public when this started in 2014,” Mhlanga said.
“Our legal mandate is to give the results to the candidate who sat for the exam at the place where they wrote the exam, and we will continue to do so, but we also understand that some learners may be at home during this time, and the newspaper publication is an advantage,” Mhlanga added.
Information Regulator’s Concerns
Advocate Lebogang Stroom, Full-time Member at the Information Regulator, expressed the regulator’s concerns about compliance with the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act.
“We conducted an assessment last year and found that the publication of learners’ personal information is not compliant with Section 11 of the POPI Act,” said Stroom.
The regulator recommended that the DBE develop a system where learners provide consent for their details to be published.
However, Stroom clarified that the matter was dismissed solely on urgency grounds, with the merits still to be addressed in court later this year.
“It is not the duty of the Information Regulator to speak to the learners. We can only provide advice. It is the department’s responsibility to inform learners about the new laws,” Stroom added.
VOC News
Photo: DBE/X
