The Information Regulator of South Africa is pursuing urgent legal action to prevent the Department of Basic Education from publishing the 2024 matric results in January 2025.
Information regulator’s latest court bid to delay 2024 matric results
The regulator announced its court bid on Friday, citing concerns over compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
The move follows tensions between the regulator and the department, which escalated last week when the Information Regulator issued an R5 million fine against the department.
This penalty was imposed after the regulator determined that the department failed to implement adequate measures to safeguard learners’ personal information, including their exam numbers, against unauthorised access and misuse.
In late November, the Department of Basic Education confirmed the release of the 2024 matric results.
At the time, the department indicated that the results would be released nationally on Monday, 13 January 2025, with provincial outcomes to follow on Tuesday, 14 January 2025.
During that time, Minister Siviwe Gwarube defended the department’s practice of publishing results using unique exam numbers.
She argued that the practice aligns with a prior court ruling that deemed it beneficial for learners and does not breach privacy laws.
“We are also guided by the court case where the court did in fact, a couple of years ago, affirm that publishing the results in newspapers is beneficial to some learners who aren’t able to go back to schools to collect their scripts,” she said at the time.
The matter is set to be heard in court on Tuesday, 7 January 2025.
