By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Advocate Pansy Tlakula chaired the press briefing on the progress and development of the Information Regulator’s work since April. File photo. (Kabelo Mokoena).
The Information Regulator (IR) has directed the Department of Basic Education (DBE) not to publish the results of Matric 2024 in newspapers.
In a statement, the IR said: “The IR found that no legal justification existed for the DBE to continue with the publication of the results in the newspapers. It directed that the results of the 2024 matriculants should not be published in the newspapers and must be made available to the learners using methods compliant with POPIA.”
In response, the department said, “It is still processing the matter internally. At the right time, it will make their steps public.”
The department has had talks with its legal unit recently and was having internal talks about the matter.
The legal challenge regarding the public dissemination of the results echoes a similar situation that arose in January 2022 when AfriForum, alongside Maroela Media and an affected matriculant, successfully contested a ban on the previous year’s results imposed by the department.
In that ruling, the court mandated the publication of the results, underscoring the importance of public access to this information.
The DBE did not oppose the ruling.
The Popi Act, published in 2013, governs South Africa’s data protection and privacy laws.
The IR was created and empowered to enforce Popia as part of the Act, which was passed into law in July 2020.
Currently, the IR has taken the lead, having issued an enforcement notice on November 4.
AfriForum has instructed its legal team to challenge the enforcement notice served on the basic education department.
This year, almost 900,000 full- and part-time candidates from public and private schools enrolled for the NSC and Independent Examinations Board exams in South Africa.
According to a statement of Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, this was 8,400 more candidates than in 2023.