Staff Reporter
The High Court in Pretoria has rejected a bid by the Information Regulator to appeal a ruling that allows matric results to be published in newspapers and online using exam numbers.
The ruling keeps in place the court’s earlier decision setting aside the regulator’s enforcement action against the Department of Basic Education (DBE) over the publication of National Senior Certificate results.
The dispute centred on whether publishing results without learners’ names, but with examination numbers, amounted to the unlawful processing of personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
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The Information Regulator had argued that learners could still potentially be identified and that the department should not be allowed to publish the results in that format.
But the Gauteng High Court found that the regulator had not shown that another court would come to a different conclusion.
Judge Omphemetse Mooki, sitting with Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa and Acting Judge Mark Morgan, said there were no reasonable prospects of success.
“I am also not persuaded that the application raises compelling reasons that warrant granting leave to appeal,” Mooki said.
The ruling follows the court’s earlier decision to set aside the regulator’s November 2024 enforcement notice and December 2024 infringement notice against the department. The infringement notice included a R5 million administrative fine.
In that judgment, the court found that results published by examination number alone did not, on their own, identify individual learners.
The regulator had also challenged the court’s use of the phrase “personally identifiable information”, arguing that this was not wording used in POPIA.
Mooki rejected that argument.
“I am not persuaded that the expression ‘personally identifiable information’ offends against the POPIA, or that it constitutes legislation by a court.”
The Information Regulator may still approach the Supreme Court of Appeal directly for leave to appeal.
Unless that happens successfully, the DBE may continue publishing matric results using exam numbers only.
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AfriForum, which was one of the parties in the litigation, welcomed the ruling.
“This is a victory for the disclosure of information that is in the public interest,” said Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s head of cultural affairs.
Bailey said the case also had wider implications for research and public-interest data where people are protected through codes or numbers rather than names.
“Several research fields work with information of individuals who can only be identified by numbers or codes. This is used to protect their right to privacy and anonymity,” Bailey said.
