The Information Regulator has hope that its powers will be confirmed in a judgment by the Pretoria High Court today against the publishing of matric results in newspapers. However, the Education Department insists that for as long as there's no court order against this practice, it will go ahead and publish. The regulator took the department to court yesterday to stop it from publishing matric results in the newspapers.

PRIVACY

After court proceedings, Mfana Gwala from the Information Regulator emphasised that we live in an era where the right to privacy needs to be respected. "We do live in the era of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), and traditional practices that we used to need had to be adjusted to comply with the framework of protection of information as provided for in our legislation. So, we simply cannot place ourselves in a position where we ignore the rights of children," Gwala said. He added that they are foreseeing harm, and they ought to do whatever they can to protect the rights of children. 'We are hoping to hear the confirmation of our powers as the Information Regulator and that our powers are not ignored by responsible parties."

STICKING TO THEIR WORD

The Department of Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the Information Regulator speaks of other organisations that should protect the rights of learners but said he was clear that the judge can rule otherwise." The judge can rule otherwise tomorrow, and we will have to adhere to the judgment handed down. However, we still stand on the judgment that was handed down on 18 January 2022.