In its application to the SCA, the regulator argued<\/a> that the High Court had introduced a new concept in the interpretation and application of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), \u201cthe so-called personally identifiable information which is not provided for in the [POPIA]\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cThe parties were not given an opportunity to make any submissions on the meaning of the phrase \u2018personally identifiable information\u2019 in the context of the dispute before the court, as a result of which their right to a fair hearing was violated,\u201d it stated in the application.<\/p>\n
\u2018Protecting learners\u2019<\/p>\n
Education activist Hendrick Makaneta said the regulator\u2019s decision to ask the SCA for guidance on the publication of matric results is a \u201cstep aimed at finding clarity with a view to protecting pupils.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many years, publishing results has helped families to get information quickly, especially where internet access is poor. That history matters and should be respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, worries about privacy are real. Young people deserve dignity and care when their information is shared. Asking the courts to provide guidance is a responsible way to balance access and privacy under the law. We hope this process will be handled with calm voices and open minds,\u201d Makaneta said.<\/p>\n
Makaneta said: \u201cOur shared goal must be the general well-being of all our pupils and public trust in education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regulator \u2018stands firm\u2019<\/p>\n
The regulator said it stands \u201cfirm in its position\u201d that the importance of judicial processes may help illuminate certain aspects of POPIA, particularly in relation to the obligations of responsible parties, such as DBE, to comply with the Regulator\u2019s orders and to protect personal information they hold about data subjects.<\/p>\n
This was after it issued an Enforcement Notice and an Infringement Notice, carrying a fine of R5 million, in late 2024 against the Department of Basic Education (DBE) for failing to comply with the Regulator\u2019s directive on the publication of matric results in newspapers.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ:\u00a0\u2018Fanciful\u2019 bid to block publication of 2025 matric results dismissed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are just ten days left before the 2025 matric cohort receives its results on 12 January 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1925,1926,1927,402,1928,1929,131,1930],"class_list":{"0":"post-1846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-department-of-basic-education-dbe","9":"tag-matric-results","10":"tag-national-senior-certificate-nsc","11":"tag-news-today","12":"tag-north-gauteng-high-court","13":"tag-popia","14":"tag-south-africa","15":"tag-supreme-court-of-appeal-sca"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}