Matric results will be released on 13 January 2026. (Image: Pixabay)
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is set to publish matric results in the media next Tuesday, despite the Information Regulator saying an enforcement order banning it from doing so remains in force.
This comes amid a court battle between the two government entities over what constitutes personally identifiable information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
South Africa’s privacy law enforcement agency has lodged papers with the Supreme Court of Appeal asking it to allow it to challenge a North Gauteng High Court decision enabling the DBE to continue publishing matric results in the media. A court date has yet to be set, with the court in recess until mid-February.
Some 900 000 matriculants wrote final school examinations between the end of October and end-November last year, which has been described as the highest number ever recorded for final year assessments.
In its court papers, the regulator says the judge erred when relying on the concept of “personally identifiable information”, a definition it says does not appear in the POPIA.
“The court has introduced a phrase and a definition which is foreign to POPIA,” the papers state. “The introduction of the phrase and a definition for it amounts to making law as opposed to interpreting the law and the court does not have law-making powers.”
The Information Regulator also says the court applied an overly narrow test for what constitutes protected personal information, arguing that the department’s use of exam numbers doesn’t adequately conceal a learner’s identity.
In a statement, the DBE says the results will be published “in the same pseudonymised format used in recent years – namely, examination numbers and results only, with no names, surnames or ID numbers”.
Yet, the Information Regulator says that such a publication will be in contravention of an infringement notice it issued in November 2024, which was followed by an enforcement order.
This order, the result of an “own-initiative assessment” of the department, found that it failed to obtain consent for the publication of matric results from learners or parents/guardians of learners that sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations.
Key statistics on the matriculants who wrote Grade 12 finals last year. (This image was created using GenAI.)
In the order, the regulator directed the department to get consent before it published this year’s results in the media. The DBE stopped publishing full names with matric results in newspapers after the 2021 exams, which were released in January 2022, using individual examination numbers instead.
The Information Regulator has argued that publishing results in the media is not the only avenue available to the department to distribute results. Matric results are available via the exam centre, the DBE’s website, and SMS.
Nomzamo Zondi, speaking on behalf of the Information Regulator, tells ITWeb that its enforcement order remains in place until the matter is settled by the courts. Her statement echoes that of a press release issued last year in which it said, “until such time as an appeal against the orders of the Regulator is brought before court, the regulator will continue to expect compliance with its orders and will do what is provided for in the law to enforce its orders”.
In the DBE’s statement, it says its pending publication of the results is “in line with our commitment to the rule of law” and that it “is of the view that it is legally obliged to publish the results in this pseudonymised format”.
This, the DBE says, is because the court order granted on 18 January 2022 expressly requires this approach. “This order remains in force.”
In addition, it says, the publication of National Senior Certificate results in accredited newspapers “has long been an important and accessible method for learners and parents to obtain results timeously”.
The department has indicated that it opposes the Information Regulator’s bid to seek leave to appeal.
“This opposition is pursued in the best interests of learners, their families, and the education sector. The department remains firmly of the view that the application has no reasonable prospects of success,” it says.
The DBE also emphasised that it holds the highest respect for the Office of the Information Regulator and its Constitutional mandate.
“The department’s opposition to the application for leave to appeal should not be interpreted as a lack of respect for the Information Regulator. On the contrary, the department values the regulator’s role and looks forward to continued and constructive engagement,” it notes.
