Information Regulator's urgent application to stop publication of matric results struck off court roll
The Information Regulator has sought to interdict the Department of Basic Education from publishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results for 2024.
FILE: A National Senior Certificate. Picture: Careers Portal
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has found that there is no urgency in the Information Regulator's application to stop the Department of Basic Education from publishing matric results.
The court found that the regulator did not act timeously before bringing the application to court and struck the matter from the roll with costs.
This means the department's publication of the matric results next week will be lawful.
The two parties battled it out in the superior court on Tuesday, with the regulator saying the publication of results was an infringement of the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act.
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- DBE slams IR for 'self-created urgency' in application to halt publishing of matric results
Among the tests that an applicant must meet when launching an urgent application is that they sought the intervention of the court expeditiously.
However, after waiting 10 months before issuing the department with an enforcement order and longer before launching the legal challenge, Judge Ronel
Tolmay was not convinced that the regulator acted with the necessary haste.
"It must be stressed that no persuasive reasons were provided for the delay in bringing the application. The implementation and the application of the POPI Act in relation to the publication of matric results have been contentious from at least the beginning of 2022."
The judge also did not agree that the application ought to have been triggered by the failure of the department to comply with the enforcement notice as per section 89, subsection one of the POPI Act as argued by the regulator.