Sexually explicit videos and photos of what appears to be those of the speaker of Free State legislature, Zanele Sifuba, were leaked on various digital platforms on Tuesday 8 November. It is alleged that this private content was released following the failure to pay money for blackmail.
Digital abuse is becoming more prevalent in South Africa and people are using technologies such as texting and social networking to bully, harass, stalk or intimidate other people — a form of verbal or emotional abuse perpetrated online.
Unfortunately, a lot of victims faced with this do not know what to do or the relevant actions they need to take to protect themselves. With the growth in revenge porn, it is important for the public to be sensitised about the legal implications of sharing nude or sexually explicit photos or videos of someone else.
Revenge porn is a form of digital abuse in which nude or sexually explicit photos or videos are shared without the consent of those pictured. This form of abuse closely resembles sexual abuse because victims are placed in a position to be sexualised without their consent. The “revenge” part of it represents where a person who is in possession of that material shares such images as “revenge” or threatens to distribute them as a type of blackmail.
In most cases, revenge porn occurs between romantic or sexual partners in which you send these private images to a partner or the partner may have convinced you to take explicit pictures and then in an effort to shame or blackmail you share these images publicly or with specific persons.
Other ways in which this may manifest is when an abusive partner takes sexual or nude photos of you without your knowledge or coerces you to do so. However, it is important to not rule out that a coworker, family member, or stranger could also gain access to your private images and share them publicly for a variety of reasons.
Revenge porn can harm the victim in various ways. First, the victims may deal with long-term personal and psychological issues after private images are posted publicly or to specific persons without their consent. Revenge porn can lead to major emotional distress, such as guilt, depression, paranoia, anger or suicidal thoughts. This is not something to take lightly.
Secondly, revenge porn leads to social anxiety and isolation. Victims start to withdraw from social settings and become isolated due to feelings of shame. Thirdly, it leads to a lot of further harassment and harms the victim’s reputation.
Revenge porn posts often include victims’ names, links to their social media accounts and other personal information. This leads to a lot of stalking or them being harassed by other people online. Some victims have lost jobs or prospective jobs as a result of revenge porn and this has damaged their family relationships.
It’s not always easy to take legal action in revenge porn cases because of all the hoops and possible secondary victimisation you may have to deal with, but it can help mitigate the harm and provide you with the justice you deserve.
Sexually explicit videos and photos of what appears to be those of the speaker of Free State legislature, Zanele Sifuba, were leaked on various digital platforms on Tuesday 8 November.
What the law says?
Clearly put, it is a crime to distribute sexually explicit images or videos without someone’s consent in South Africa. According to the Films and Publications Amendment Act, “any person who knowingly distributes private sexual photographs and films in any medium including through the internet, without prior consent of the individual or individuals and where the individual or individuals in the photographs or films is identified or identifiable in the said photographs and films, shall be guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction”.
Victims may now lay criminal charges against anyone who distributes or shares this material on social media, in text messages, via any electronic communication or on pornographic websites. Anyone who breaks the revenge porn laws in South Africa and is found guilty of sharing or distributing revenge porn will face time behind bars or will be fined.
If the victim can’t be identified in the content, the perpetrator could face two years in jail and/or have to pay a fine of up to R150 000. However, if the victim can be identified in any way, the perpetrator could spend four years in prison and/or have to pay up to R300 000.
In addition to the above, the victim has the option of suing a perpetrator for civil damages as it constitutes defamation of character or laying a criminal charge for crimen injuria, which is defined as the act of “unlawfully and intentionally impairing the dignity or privacy of another person”.
The victim may also use the Protection from Harassment Act which permits a victim to apply for a protection or harassment order against a perpetrator which, once granted, is coupled with a warrant of arrest and is suspended subject to the relevant person complying with the terms of the protection order.
Steps victims can take
Firstly, document everything. You’ll probably have the urge to immediately take down any personal images you find on the internet. But if you want to take legal action, you need to document this information. Before you delete anything, collect data. Take screenshots, download images, and turn website pages into PDFs.
Take screenshots of comments on the post, any threats you receive, search results that lead to your images, websites the images were on and any texts, emails or conversations tied to the pictures. Include the sender’s phone number and name, if available. Include the date, time and URL of any pictures included in the screenshots as well.
Secondly, report the images. Once you’ve collected data, you can try to get the images or videos removed from the internet. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and most other social media sites have ways to report sexually explicit or inappropriate content. If they’re on another website, try to contact whoever runs the site. Screenshot and save any such reports you make.
Lastly, report this to the police or any other relevant law enforcement officers. You can even consult with an attorney or advocate who is familiar with revenge porn situations and can help you understand the law and make an informed decision.
In an effort to support the “victim”, it is important for the public and loved ones to not perpetuate victim blaming. This is when the victim is said to be at fault for sending the photo or video in the first place. We ought not to forget that they are victims in the entire revenge porn saga — they innocently shared private images for whatever valid reason (excluding minors and incapacitated individuals) or someone took a picture without their knowledge or consent and shared it publicly.
Karabo Mokgonyana is an award-winning legal and development practitioner and programme director for the Sesi Fellowship and Skill Hub, a womxn- and youth-led organisation that provides young womxn with mentorship and skills development.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish