Johannesburg – The Gauteng High Court has dismissed the Information Regulator’s attempt to stop the publication of the 2025 matric results, ruling in favour of the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
In a judgment handed down on Friday, Judge Mark Morgan described the regulator’s arguments as “fanciful”, finding that publishing results using learners’ examination numbers does not amount to processing personally identifiable information and therefore does not infringe pupils’ right to privacy under the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia).
“The regulator’s stance does not reflect events in the real world. It would be a very unusual learner who, having prepared for examinations, having spent weeks sitting for various papers, and having spent weeks awaiting results, would care to recall who sat next to the learner during examinations, work out from the sequence of examination numbers, and then have thoughts about how that other learner performed in the examinations,” Morgan ruled.
🔴AfriForum Wins Case Confirming Public Release of Matric Results Using Exam Numbers🔴
Gauteng-In a major win for transparency and public access to information, AfriForum and several media organisations have secured a court victory that allows the public release of matric… pic.twitter.com/i15VQLgenS
— Central News (@centralnewsza) December 12, 2025
He added: “It is unnecessary to consider the various other issues raised in the application. That is because I hold that the manner of publication of the results does not constitute the processing of personally identifiable information. The question of infringement of the right to privacy does not arise. The other issues raised in the application are incidental to whether the students’ right to privacy was infringed. It is therefore unnecessary to address those other issues, given our holding.”
The Information Regulator had brought an urgent application to block newspapers from publishing the National Senior Certificate results, warning of possible fines of up to R5 million.
The DBE opposed the move, with AfriForum joining as an interested party, while the EFF supported the regulator’s challenge.
The court ruled it was unnecessary to consider other issues raised, as no privacy violation arose from the way results are published. Umalusi has confirmed that the 2025 matric results will be released on 12 January 2026, with marking set to conclude on 18 December.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, X and Instagram
Picture: X/@insightfactor
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
