Home Affairs deputy minister Malusi Gigaba is shocked that accessing child pornography in a Cape Town Internet caf'e costs R5 and that the proprietors have no effective ability to stop it.
He discovered this during an unannounced visit to a number of adult sex shops and Internet caf'es in the city centre and its environs earlier this week.
At one Seapoint Internet caf'e, the deputy minister and his entourage, which included Film and Publications Board (FPB) CEO Shokie Bopape-Dlomo, found that the cache memory of the computers allegedly still contained child pornography images left by previous users.
"It is not sufficient for Internet caf'es to put in 'reasonable controls`, they must demonstrate these actually work," Bopape-Dlomo says.
She says this Internet caf'e charged only R5 for half an hour, or R10 for a full hour of use. This is cheaper than the Cape Town average of about R15 for 15 minutes.
"This places the cost of such access well within reach of school children," Bopape-Dlomo says.
In terms of the Film and Publications Act, the viewing or harbouring of child pornography is illegal and the courts can impose a maximum sentence of 10 years` imprisonment. It is also illegal for children to have access to pornography in general.
National government has made crimes against women and children a national priority and the SA Police Service has linked the widespread access to pornography as one of the key drivers of the country`s high incidence of rape and child abuse.
Bopape-Dlomo says a seminar should be held in late October to get industry co-operation to help contain the problem.
"The law has to be strengthened and we would like industry`s voluntary contributions. However, if the problem continues to persist, then we will just have to force the changes through," she says.
Anyone wishing to report incidents of child pornography being made freely available at Internet caf'es can contact the FPB at 080014148, or (011) 483-0971, or e-mail fpbmedia@fpb.gov.za.
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