THOUSANDS of learners who wrote matric last year will be able to once again access their results through the media next week.
The Department of Basic Education will announce the results nationally on Monday and the following day, individual matric results will be available at schools and online via official Department of Basic Education (DBE) platforms.
The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Ronel Tolmay, on Wednesday struck the application by the Information Regulator (IR) to interdict the DBE from publishing the results in the media, from the court roll.
She found that the IR’s urgency, in rushing to court at the last minute, was self-created.
The IR said it had no choice but to turn to court now, as it became clear that the department refused to abide by an enforcement notice issued to it by the IR 10 months ago, ordering the department not to publish the results.
This followed an assessment done by the IR on whether it would infringe on the learners’ rights to protection of public information if the results were published in the media.
The department, however, issued an appeal against the enforcement notice.
Judge Tolmay said the report on the assessment done was already issued by the IR 10 months ago, and it knew the stance of the department on the matter.
But the judge said the results had been published in the media for years and she questioned why things should be different this year.