The decision comes just 13 days before the 2025 cohorts get their results on the 12th of January 2026.
The battle over whether the 2025 National Senior Certificate (NSC) results could be published in newspapers using pupils’ examination numbers is heading to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
The decision comes just 13 days before the 2025 cohorts get their results on the 12th of January 2026.
Blow
Earlier this month, the Information Regulator was dealt a blow when the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that publishing matric results on public platforms using only examination numbers, rather than names, protects matriculants’ privacy.
Acting Judge Mark Morgan dismissed the regulator’s arguments as “fanciful” and likened its stance to “a poorly constructed thought experiment.”
Heading to SCA
The regulator later said it would study the judgment dismissing its application to block the publication of matric results.
It has now been decided to approach the SCA with an application for leave to appeal the North Gauteng High Court’s ruling in Pretoria.
ALSO READ: Parliament welcomes DBE’s swift action on matric exam breach
‘New concept’
In its application to the SCA, the regulator argued that the High Court had introduced a new concept in the interpretation and application of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), “the so-called personally identifiable information which is not provided for in the [POPIA]”.
“The parties were not given an opportunity to make any submissions on the meaning of the phrase ‘personally identifiable information’ in the context of the dispute before the court, as a result of which their right to a fair hearing was violated,” it stated in the application.
‘Wrongly focused’
The regulator argued that the High Court had wrongly focused on the manner of publication, as the POPI Act was not concerned with the trouble a person went to in identifying the data subject, according to News24.
The regulator said it was in the interests of justice and in the public interest that the lawfulness of the publication of matric results be finally determined by a higher court.
Urgent application
It filed an urgent application to prevent the publication of the NSC examination results in newspapers, citing concerns about a potential violation of students’ privacy under POPIA.
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’s directive on the publication of matric results in newspapers.
However, the DBE opposed the application, with AfriForum joining the case as an interested party.
Despite the Regulator’s enforcement notice and a potential R5 million fine, the DBE planned to announce the results.
Matric results
In recent years, the media have published results showing only a pupil’s unique exam number.
South Africa’s education regulator, Umalusi, has confirmed the 2025 matric results will be released on 12 January 2026.
ALSO READ: ‘Fanciful’ bid to block publication of 2025 matric results dismissed
