The Information Regulator of South Africa says no legal justification exists for the Department of Basic Education to continue with publishing matric results in the newspapers.
The Information Regulator said the department was issued an Enforcement Notice on 4 November 2024 following the regulator’s initiative assessment of the department’s compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
NO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION FOR DBE TO PUBLISH MATRIC RESULTS IN NEWSPAPERS
The practice of accessing matric results spanned many years, where the whole country had access to the results of matriculants using ID numbers, exam numbers and learners’ personal credentials.
The Information Regulator found that the department was not compliant with section 11 of POPIA and was in breach of the conditions for the lawful processing of personal information by failing to obtain consent for the publication of matric results from the learners or parents/guardians of learners who sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations.
Information Regulator spokesperson Nomzamo Zondi said there was no legal justification for the Department of Basic Education to continue publishing the results in the newspapers. Therefore, the IR directed that the results of the 2024 matriculants should not be published in the newspapers and must make these results available to the learners using methods that are compliant with POPIA, such as each learner obtaining their result from the school or using the secure SMS platform of the DBE which enables each learner to access their results confidentially.
Zondi said in the enforcement notice, the IR has directed the department to obtain the consent of
learners or the parents/guardians of learners who will write the matric examination in 2025 before publishing their results in newspapers.
“The DBE must also, among others, develop a system which will enable it to obtain the consent of the learners or their parents/guardians before the publication of their matric results in newspapers. The IR has directed that the DBE should not publish the results of the 2025 matriculants if the Enforcement Notice instructions are not complied with,” Zondi added.
AFIRFORUM PREPARES COURT CHALLENGE
In January 2022, the Department of Education said it recognised the POPIA and they will therefore no longer be publishing matric results on digital platforms. The department said that it respected the right to privacy to protect against unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information.
Lobby group AfriForum challenged the department’s decision in the high court and eventually, the results for the 2021 NSC exams were published.
Following the latest ban, AfriForum said it has instructed its legal team to prepare a case to ensure that the results of this year’s matric results may be published on media platforms.
AfriForum’s head of cultural affairs, Alana Bailey, said it is in the public’s interest that this information is shared on public platforms.
“To label this as a violation of individuals’ right to privacy does not make sense, as only exam numbers appear in the media. The court has previously told AfriForum and the other parties that this does not go against anyone’s right to privacy,” she said.
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