AfriForum has directed its legal team to prepare a lawsuit to guarantee that the results of this year’s matriculants can be released on media channels.
This comes after the Information Regulator (IR) recently announced that the release of these results was illegal.
“In January 2022, AfriForum, Maroela Media and a matriculant won a case to ensure that the 2021 matric results could be published in the media after the Department of Basic Education (DBE) had announced a similar ban,” said the organisation.
The court directed the department to proceed with the publishing, and even issued a costs judgment against it.
The DBE’s inability to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) last year means that the matric class of 2024 will not have their National Senior Certificate (NSC) results published in media.
The IR said the department received an Infringement Notice and an Enforcement Notice on November 4.
“The IR found that no legal justification existed for the DBE to continue with the publication of the results in the newspapers.
“It directed that the results of the 2024 matriculants should not be published in the newspapers, and must make these results available to the learners using methods that are compliant with POPIA, such as each learner obtaining their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,” said the regulator.
Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, argued that it is in the public’s interest to communicate this knowledge on public forums.
“To label it as a violation of individuals’ right to privacy does not make sense, as only examination numbers appear in the media. The court has previously ruled in favour of AfriForum and the other parties that this does not infringe on anyone’s right to privacy,” said Bailey.
She went on to say that in the prior instance, the DBE issued the contentious order, but this time it comes from the Information Regulator.
AfriForum said it is determined to do all in its power to guarantee that this year’s matriculants, like previous years, may receive their results via media outlets.
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