Angie Motshekga must release 2021 matric results in public domain, court rules

Pretoria - The Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga must release the 2021 matric results in the public domain.

The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Tuesday morning ordered that the results must be released by the minister to be published on media public platforms, as was the practice in previous years.

The results will also, as per usual, be made available to the various schools so that learners could also get their results at their schools.

The urgent application launch by Anlé Spies, who wrote matric last year at a school in Waverley, Pretoria, AfriForum and Maroela Media, only lasted about 10 minutes in court, as the minister over the weekend indicated that the department will abide by the court’s ruling.

Hardly any argument was presented, but Advocate Quintus Pelser SC, acting for AfriForum commented that the application had “panned out very satisfactory as the minister did come to the party.”

Judge Anthony Millar also commented that all the parties have acted in good faith. He said this matter is in the public interest and he wished that more parties would act in other cases) in such a non-litigious manner.

The order granted by the court means that all the matriculants who are not near their schools, would be able to either access their results online, or via newspapers.

The Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) earlier announced that it would no longer make the results available in the public domain, as it reasoned this would encroach on the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act).

But it was pointed out in court papers by the applicants that only the unique exam number of the students who wrote matric appears alongside their results.

Only the students themselves know their exam number.

Pretoria News