Sending these WhatsApp messages in South Africa can now land you with a fine and jailtime

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Cybercrimes Bill into law, bringing South Africa’s cybersecurity laws in line with the rest of the world. The bill, which is now an act of parliament, creates offences for and criminalises, amongst others, the disclosure of data messages which are harmful, says Ahmore Burger-Smidt, director and head of Data Privacy Practice at Werksmans Attorneys. Examples of such data messages include: Those which incite violence or damage to property; Those which threaten persons with violence or damage to property; Those which contain an intimate image sent without the subject’s consent. Other offences include cyber fraud, forgery, extortion and theft of incorporeal property, said Burger-Smidt. “The unlawful and intentional access of a computer system or computer data storage medium is also considered an offence along with the unlawful interception of, or interference with data.” “This creates a broad ambit for the application of the Cybercrimes Act which defines ‘data’ as electronic representations of information in any form.” A person who is convicted of an offence under the Cybercrimes Act is liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period of up to fifteen years or to both a fine and such imprisonment as may be…
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