Court reserves judgment in matric results publication case
The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria is set to hand down its ruling soon on whether the matric results for this year can be published in the media.
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
THE Gauteng High Court, Pretoria is set to hand down its ruling soon in a matter argued this week regarding the publication of this year's matric results.
Judgment was reserved yesterday. Matric pupils are currently writing the National Senior Certificate Examinations with marking expected to commence in early December. Results are expected to be released to pupils in early 2026.
At issue before the court is whether the media, particularly newspapers, should publish the results. In recent years, the media has published the results which only shows a pupil's unique exam number alongside the results.
However the Information Regulator (IR) has argued that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is in breach of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). It had prohibited the DBE from publishing last year's results but publication went ahead.
The IR then issued a R5 million administrative fine against the DBE for not adhering to its directive.
This is one of the issues before the court this week, as the department is appealing the enforcement notice.
AfriForum, which is among the parties in the case, yesterday said the department has diligently abided by an earlier court ruling regarding the publication of the results using exam numbers without any complaints from the learners.
AfriForum commended the DBE for adhering to the 2022 court order and argued that while it did give learners the option to opt out from having their results published, not a single objection was received.
Nor were there any other complaints, other than from the IR, about the publishing of the results while only using the exam numbers.
The DBE, in its arguments, analysed the POPI Act in a bid to show the court that by publishing the results, not a single section of the Act is being violated.
The IR maintains that the department must first obtain the permission of the learners or their parents and guardians before the information may be published.
Pansy Tlakula, chairperson of the IR stated that the department will not be harmed if matric results were only issued directly to learners at their schools or via the department’s SMS platform.
It was argued by the IR that this will ensure that there is no contravention of the POPI Act and that results are only accessible to learners, protecting their personal information.
Advocate Kennedy Tsatsawane SC told the full bench - three judges - that there is, in fact, no evidence to prove that the publication of matric examination results in newspapers is to benefit the learners.
“Of importance, there is no obligation on the DBE to publish matric examination results in local newspapers,” he said.
Tsatsawane argued that the DBE remains obligated to release matric results directly to the learners themselves and not to any unauthorised person.
He added that in January 2023, the DBE published the 2022 matric examination results on media platforms such as newspapers without identifying the names and surnames of the learners, but disclosed their examination numbers and the relevant schools.
“The DBE did this without the consent of the learners. The learners’ examination numbers constitute identifying numbers by which learners are identifiable,” Tsatsawane said in maintaining that this went against the POPI Act.