Battle over matric results

The Information Regulator (IR) is attempting to stop matric results from being published in newspapers, arguing that this violates personal privacy.

This is not the first time the IR has attempted to block the release of matric results, which are normally published at the start of every year.

The results are published in most major newspapers, and recent matriculants can use their examination numbers to find them.

The listed results do not include the matriculants’ names or other personal information, but the IR has argued that publishing exam numbers is still a breach of privacy.

The decision to use only examination numbers was made in 2022, in light of the newly implemented Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

According to this act, personal information must be anonymised, which would conflict with how matric results were previously released.

Before 2022, matric results were published using examination numbers and ID numbers. Before 2014, full names were used.

The use of full names was stopped through pressure from mental health activists and student representatives.

These groups argued that using full names could embarrass learners with poor results and contribute to teenage depression and anxiety.

The decision to only use examination numbers in 2022 was made by South Africa’s courts after the Department of Education (DOE) decided to scrap newspaper announcements.

This decision was made to comply with the new POPIA laws, but advocacy groups such as AfriForum and various newspaper publishers challenged this in court.

The court ruled that matric results could be released in newspapers, provided only examination numbers were used to identify people.

In 2024, the court’s decision came under scrutiny after an IR investigation found that it still violated matriculants’ rights.

The IR issued an enforcement notice to the DOE, stating that it could not publish results in newspapers that year. The DOE did not comply.

This put the issue back in court, where it was ruled that the DOE was correct in ignoring the enforcement notice and could continue releasing results as before.

The Information Regulator is still not done

On 3 June 2026, the IR went to the Pretoria High Court to appeal the previous decision that allowed the publication of matric results.

After this appeal failed, the group went to South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal.

AfriForum, which was a key part of the original fight for the decision to keep matric results in newspapers, commented on the IR’s latest attempts to appeal.

AfriForum’s head of cultural affairs, Alana Bailey, said the IR will not succeed in their attempts to overturn the court’s decision.

“It is clear that the IR neither recognises the futility of this case nor understands the risks that a ruling in its favour would pose,” she said.

She argued that identifying numbers are used in several circumstances to protect people’s anonymity without issue.

“Various fields of research work with information of individuals who can only be identified by means of numbers or codes,” she said.

“This is used to protect their anonymity, just as is the case with the matric results.”

Determining that releasing matric results using examination numbers violates people’s rights could have far-reaching effects.

This decision would jeopardise many research groups that use number systems to maintain anonymity in their studies.

Requiring changes to these systems would put pressure on researchers, forcing them to adjust their studies or practices.

Currently, the IR has been unsuccessful in changing the ruling on the release of matric results.

Bailey said that AfriForum would be fighting the IR’s latest appeal in the Supreme Court, as they did with previous attempts to overturn the 2024 ruling.