Was hacker attack linked to religion ruling at schools?

The department of basic education is investigating if there is a link between the hacking of their website and a court ruling on Wednesday that state schools could not promote a single religion.

The Johannesburg High Court ruled that public schools may no longer promote themselves as subscribing to a particular religion in an application brought by the Organisation for Religious Education and Democracy.

The application sought to restrain six schools from partaking in 71 instances of conduct with a religious theme‚ some identified with Christianity.

Department of basic education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said that cyber experts were investigating the motive for the hack‚ which saw the website hacked and plastered with gruesome pictures of decapitated corpses‚ including images of children.

Before the site was pulled down‚ the hacker who claimed responsibility for the attack proclaimed loyalty for the extremist group the Islamic State.

"We are still trying to understand the motive of the attack. We hope that our IT team will be able to tell us more this morning‚" Mhlanga said.

"There is no hard evidence to suggest there is a link to the judgment but both happened on the same day. It is a strange coincidence and we are persuaded to believe that they may be linked‚" he added.

Those who claimed responsibility for the cyber attack posted: "Hacked by Team System DZ. A message to the government‚ the American people and the rest of the world. Is this the humanity that you claim‚ or is life irrelevant to Muslims? Do not imagine that these actions against Muslims will pass you and we will forget what you did to the Arab and Muslim peoples all over the world. I love Islamic State."

Mhlanga decried the incident‚ denouncing the images that "incite hatred and violence".