It will be business as usual in publishing matric results, after the Gauteng High Court gave the greenlight, but made it clear that only examination numbers may be used in this regard. In a significant decision on Friday, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that matric results can once again be published on public platforms. The three-judge panel dismissed concerns about privacy violations, calling the argument that students would memorize each other’s examination numbers “unrealistic.” This landmark ruling confirms that using examination numbers instead of names adequately protects the privacy of matriculants while allowing for the traditional public release of results.
This has been an ongoing issue since 2022, and while several judges have up to now given the green light for the publication, the matter has never been fully ventilated. The dispute over the public publication of matric results began in 2022 when the Department of Basic Education (DBE) tried to prohibit it. At the time, the judge agreed with AfriForum and the other parties involved that the publication of the results was in the public interest and that the use of examination numbers instead of the names of the matriculants provided sufficient protection for their privacy.
At the end of last year, the Information Regulator (IR) tried to prevent the DBE from publishing the 2024 matric results. However, the IR’s application for an interdictfailedin January when the court ruled in favour of the publication of the results. The DBE maintained that this order is still valid, and it argues that it has no other choice but to oppose the IR’s directive to withhold publication.
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In the legal challenge, three applications in this regard have been joined. It included whether the IR’s directive that the results may not be published is valid or not. The Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) came under the spotlight, as the IR maintained that by publishing the results alongside the matric candidate’s exam number, it was in contraventionofPopia.
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