Department of Basic Education

Administrative fine imposed. Information Regulator, 23 December 2024.

Record ID: za-ir-2024-0007
Jurisdiction: South Africa
Regulator: Information Regulator
Type: penalty notice
Date decided: 23 December 2024
Respondent type: public
Sector: education
Violations: unlawful processing, publication without consent, breach of purpose limitation
Provisions cited: POPIA 2013
Outcome: administrative fine imposed
Penalty: ZAR 5,000,000 (≈ USD 272,000 at the decision date)
Status: appealed
Source: Official document ↗
Record verified: 14 March 2026

Summary

The Information Regulator fined the Department of Basic Education R5 million and ordered it to stop publishing matric results in newspapers, holding that examination numbers make learners identifiable and the publication breaches POPIA. The Department challenged the enforcement notice in court, and the regulator appealed a High Court decision that sided with the Department.

ADMINISTRATIVE-FINE · PUBLICATION · EDUCATION · CONSENT

Cite this decision

Information Regulator (South Africa), Department of Basic Education, penalty notice of 23 December 2024. African Data Protection Enforcement Tracker, Law Lab Africa Research, https://research.lawlab.africa/tracker/south-africa/information-regulator/2024/department-of-basic-education-matric-results/ (accessed 22 July 2026).

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