NSC matric certificate. Picture: Supplied.
The North Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria is set to hand down judgment on Wednesday in the legal battle over the publication of the 2024 matric results in newspapers.
The Department of Basic Education is set to release the much anticipated matric results next Monday.
Judgment in the matter is expected to be handed down at 11:30am after a day of lengthy oral arguments.
The Information Regulator (IR) filed an urgent application to block the publishing of National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results in newspapers, citing concerns about the violation of students’ privacy under the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia).
However, the DBE has opposed the application, with AfriForum joining the case as an interested party.
ALSO READ: Information Regulator insists publishing 2024 matric results violates Popia, urgency questioned
During the court proceedings on Tuesday, Judge Ronel Tolmay criticised the IR for late submissions, stating that the explanation for the late filing was “totally unacceptable”.
She also questioned the IR’s advocate Kennedy Tsatsawane about how matric candidates who could not go to their schools and did not have access to mobile phones to use the DBE’s SMS line would get their results if they were not published in the newspapers.
Judge Tolmay pointed out that the historical position over the years was that the matric results were published in newspapers.
“What about the millions of matrics and parents in our country that don’t have access to a phone and an SMS line – won’t they be prejudiced? If you’re somewhere in a village or without connectivity and far away from your school, isn’t the prejudice then a greater possibility for the majority of matriculants in this country?”
Judge Tolmay also noted the case’s similarities to a prior ruling in favour of AfriForum in January 2022, where Judge Anthony Millar ordered that results could only be published using examination numbers, excluding names.
Tsatsawane argued that the order granted by Judge Miller prevented the IR from “doing what it did.”
“If you were to uphold that proposition, than you will have to dismiss the application. But we submit you cannot uphold that proposition. The very first point of reference as far as that order is concerned, is the notice of motion in the application that gave birth to the order of Justice Miller.”
Tsatsawane emphasised that Miller’s ruling did not address whether publishing results violated Popia.
“If the order had been granted, we would have not been here because there would be a general declaratory order that says it is lawful to publish matric results in newspapers.
The regulator proposed alternative methods of sharing results, such as secure SMS platforms.
Advocate Marius Oosthuizen, representing the DBE, argued that the regulator had ample time since the 2022 judgment to address its concerns.
“They had all the time in the world since 2022 to do something about this court order [and] they elected not to do so.”
Oosthuizen insisted that Miller’s ruling had not been overturned and that the continued publication of results could, therefore, be deemed lawful.
Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa
ALSO READ: ‘Real matric pass rate is 55.3%,’ says DA
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