AfriForum Threatens Urgent Court Action to Force Publication of Matric Results in Newspapers

AfriForum, who is a party in the court battle against the Information Regulator (IR) in the fight regarding the publication of matric results in newspapers, said it will strongly consider turning to court to obtain an urgent order for the results to be published next week.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube was expected to announce the national results on January 12, but as the IR filed a notice to appeal last month’s judgment, which gave the green light for the publication of the results, this was automatically suspended.

Alana Bailey, head of cultural affairs at AfriForum, said that if it turns out that the results will not be published in newspapers early next week, AfriForum will most definitely consider turning to court. In its notice to the parties, including the DBE, the State Attorneys made it clear that the DBE remains prohibited from publishing the matric results in newspapers and that it must comply with the enforcement notice.

This was unless one of the respondent parties obtains an order granting them leave to execute the judgment, pending the final determination of the application for leave to appeal and following appeals.

In December, three judges ruled that the matric exams may be published yet again, using only the exam numbers of the candidates.

The issue of the publication of matric results has been ongoing since 2022, and up to now, six judges have given the green light, but made it clear that only the exam numbers may be used. They concluded that this provided sufficient protection for their privacy.

The IR tried to prevent the DBE from publishing the 2024 matric results. However, its application for an interdict failed in January last year when the court ruled in favour of publishing the results.

The fact that the DBE published the matric results resulted in the IR slapping it with a R5 million administrative fine. This was, however, overturned when the court in December turned down yet another attempt by the IR to block the publication of the results.

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, was in contravention of POPIA.

The IR felt that learners could receive their results from their schools or be notified via SMS. According to the IR, matriculants over 18 must give consent before their results are published, and the parents or caregivers of those under 18 must give consent.

The IR argued that a learner sitting next to another in an examination room can peek at the other’s examination number and thus know what that person’s results were. But judge Omphemetse Mooki, who wrote the judgment, agreed with the department that this contention was "fanciful".

While it must first obtain leave to appeal from the High Court, if given the go-ahead, the IR wants to appeal the matter before the Supreme Court of Appeal. In challenging the High Court’s decision on the matric results, the IR said in its notice for leave to appeal that issues such as the DBE’s defences based on section 11 of the POPIA must be clarified by the SCA.

It added that these defences were going to arise in other matters in the future. “It is in the interests of justice and in the public interest to have those issues resolved,” said the IR.

It added that there was, in general, a need for regulatory certainty as to the interpretation and application of the various provisions of the POPIA, which were in dispute between the parties, “which the Court did not engage with in its judgment".

zelda.venter@inl.co.za