The Department of Basic Education (DBE) says it has noted the Information Regulator’s (InfoReg’s) infringement notice, and plans to engage it on the matter via the state attorney and its counsel as a matter of urgency.
South Africa’s data privacy enforcer this week issued the DBE with an infringement notice, in which it orders the department to pay an administrative fine of R5 million following its failure to comply with the enforcement notice issued by the regulator 18 November 2024.
The DBE was issued with the enforcement notice last month, for contravention of various sections of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
This, after it failed to obtain consent for the publication of matric results from learners or parents/guardians of learners that sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations, according to the regulator.
However, the education department lodged an application to set aside the enforcement notice issued by the InfoReg regarding the publication of matric results in newspapers.
In a statement, the DBE says it filed its appeal application in terms of section 97 of the POPI Act on the relevant online high court system on 13 December.
“The state attorney confirmed to the department on 18 December 2024 that the Registrar of the High Court approved the application on 17 December 2024 and that the appeal application was being served by the Sheriff of the High Court on the Information Regulator on 18 December 2024.
“The POPI Act requires the appeal to be made to the High Court within 30 days of the date on which the enforcement notice was received. The enforcement notice was received by the Department on 18 November 2024. The Department made its appeal to the High Court on 13 December 2024.”
The department indicates it will engage the Information Regulator. “The minister still maintains her view that inter-governmental issues can be resolved through dialogue to resorting to adversarial legal proceedings.”
The issue around publishing matric results in newspapers became a contentious one in January 2022, when the DBE decided it won’t publish them on any media public platforms, citing compliance with the requirements of POPIA as the reason.
At the time, the department said the rule was introduced to respect the right to privacy to protect against unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information belonging to school pupils.
However, the Pretoria High Court ruled the matric results should be published on all media platforms. The court said ordered the results be published via various media platforms without the first names and surnames of the learners, noting only exam numbers should be publicised.
The court’s decision was because not everyone has access to the internet, adding that some learners no longer live in the area where their high school is based and might not be able to access their results timeously.
Share