Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Matric results case: Information Regulator applies for leave to appeal

ByAfriForum 11/03/202611/03/2026

The Information Regulator’s (IR) application for leave to appeal in the case concerning the publication of matric results will be heard virtually tomorrow (12 March) at 09:00. At the end of last year, a full bench of judges ruled in favour of AfriForum and other parties that the results may be published.

According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, the dispute regarding the publication of matric results started in 2022 when the Department of Basic Education (DBE) tried to ban it. In legal action that ensued, the court ruled in favour of AfriForum and the other parties involved that the release of the results was in the public interest and should therefore go ahead.

At the end of 2024, the IR tried to prevent the DBE from publishing the 2024 matric results. However, the IR’s application to obtain an interdict against the publication of the results failed, after which the case on the merits followed. In December 2025, a full bench of judges confirmed in their judgment that matric results may indeed be published on public platforms. In addition, they ruled that the use of examination numbers as the only means of identification offers sufficient protection for the privacy of matriculants and that the DBE acted lawfully by not complying with the IR’s instruction to withhold the results. The IR doubts, among other things, the court’s power to condone the disregard of statutory instructions such as those of the regulator to the DBE. The IR is therefore now applying for leave to appeal on the basis of this and other technical points.

According to Bailey, the outcome of the case will affect more issues than the publication of matric results only. “Several research fields use the information of individuals who can only be identified by numbers or codes. These markers are specifically used to protect their right to privacy and anonymity. Should the IR win the case, it gives this institution wide-ranging power to prohibit the use of such data, which could jeopardise the future of vital research in South Africa”

AfriForum trusts that the case can now finally be put to rest and that its outcome will result in a clear balance between the protection of the right to privacy and the promotion of public interests.