AfriForum welcomes court victory: Matric results may be published

AfriForum welcomes the fact that the urgent application of the Information Regulator (IR) to obtain an interdict against the publication of the 2024 matric results was unsuccessful. The IR was also ordered to pay AfriForum’s legal costs for this case. The case was heard in the Pretoria High Court yesterday and Judge Ronèl Tolmay today ruled in favour of the publication of the results. AfriForum and several other groups were added as interested parties to the IR’s case against the Department of Basic Education (DBE).

The IR argued that the publication of the matric results in public media would be a violation of the matriculants’ right to privacy. On the contrary, the judge ruled that it is in the public interest and that the results should therefore be published on public platforms and in printed media.

According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, AfriForum and other parties also succeeded in a case on the same issue in 2022. An order was then issued that the results had to be published. The case where the merits of the withholding or publication of the results will be decided will follow later in the year, but for now the urgent application was necessary for clarity on whether the results may be published next week or not.

“The ruling is a victory for the matriculants for whom the publication of their results in this way is of great importance. It is also part of the larger conversation that is essential to gain more clarity about the distinction between the right to privacy and the public interest,” Bailey said after the case.