13 Nov 2017

Cyber Crime and Computer Related Crimes Act, which was first passed in Parliament in 2007, has been amended to keep up with the ever increasing complex security issues and national security concerns.

This was said by the Minister for Defence Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi when addressing the media recently.

He said current trends of crimes committed through the use of cyber space necessitated the need to develop an appropriate legal framework that will deal with emerging security issues.

He explained that the bill, which has been gazetted, shall be presented to Parliament to ensure inclusivity and further gather input from Batswana through their members of Parliament.

Minister Kgathi said crimes committed through cyber space include terrorism, money laundering, financing terrorism, human trafficking, trafficking of harmful chemicals, defaming, cyber stalking and cyber harassment.

He said this also include revenge pornography, where private sexual photographs are posted without consent of those who appear on them, adding that such crimes were increasingly being committed, hence the need to tighten legislation around the area.

The act, he said, was further targeted at offenders who post racist or xenophobic material, insults through the use of a computer or a mobile phone and many others, which were increasingly threatening human security.

The minister noted that laws were amended in line with international laws and regulations as well as regional laws such as Southern African Development Community and the United Nations protocols.

The amended Cyber-crime and Computer Related Crimes Bill, he said, gave Police officers and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime procedural powers.

He said the Law ensured that they got the information from the computer and the traffic data from the service provider, adding that, under the amended act, the police officers were empowered to question issues related to ammunition if someone was found in possession of one.

Further, he said issues of cyber-crime were related to matters of ammunition such as guns where cyberspace was used to transmit information or procure such weapons.

He noted that in such cases the law would therefore empower them to question and know where such ammunition was procured and produced.

The defence justice and security minister reiterated that Batswana seem to have deviated from their traditional norms and values where some people posted pictures of car accidents online without the deceased family’s knowledge.

He said these were some of the trends that informed the drawing of the pieces of legislation.

He noted that children must be raised in the global village with morals, values and principles hence the Law shall encourage proper upbringing of children.

Secretary for Legislative Drafting for Attorney General Ms Stella Moroka said penalties on cyber-crime law have been increased as deterrent measures where an offender can pay up to P100 000 or spend seven years in jail depending on the kind of crime they committed. BOPA