The enforcement notice ordered the department not to publish the results in local newspapers without consent from the learners or their parents.

The organisation states that the publication of the results without consent violates the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Information Regulator Chairperson, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, explained the situation: "They had 31 days within which to give us an undertaking that they will not be publishing the matric results in the newspapers for the 2024 matric learners. The 31 days expired on the 19th of December, and by the end of the day, on that day, we had not received any undertaking from the Department of Basic Education. And then we invoked the provisions of POPIA and we then fined them or imposed an administrative fine of $269 000."

--SABC/ChannelAfrica--