You could spend four years in jail or be fined R300 000 for sharing Zanele Sifuba’s sex video, legal expert Mzansi warns.
Zanele Sifuba, the Speaker of the Free State Legislature, is currently trending on Twitter after a sex video of her was leaked, apparently after she refused to pay a R300 000 extortion bribe to an alleged Nigerian man who blackmailed her.
The sex video has since been published on social media, but those who are sharing the video, could be criminally charged and face a possible four years prison sentence or be fined R300 000.
According to the law, the practice of revenge porn is now a crime in South Africa, and anyone found sharing or distributing revenge porn, can face a prison sentence or pay a fine.
The law allows victims to file criminal charges against someone or even a group of people who knowingly post pictures or videos of you on social media or other internet platforms or upload them to pornographic websites.
If the victim cannot be identified in the video, the offender will still pay a fine of R150 000 or face two years behind bars.
However, if the victim is clearly visible in any manner, as is the case in the Sifuba video, the offender faces maximum punishment and will be expected to pay R300 000 or spend four years in jail.
Clearly put, it is a crime to distribute sexually explicit images and 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.
Source: The Bharat Express, IOL, Mail & Guardian, image from Twitter: @MikeZA