Cyril Ramaphosa vs Kenny Kunene: Stopping the snoopers

LISTEN: Social media law expert weighs in on the Cyril Ramaphosa vs Kenny Kunene case: 

One of the key role players in the #Ramaphosa saga is Kenny Kunene, who has a “news” website called Weekly Xposẻ (which is regarded by many as a fake news site) which published images of a young woman who was said to have been sent to Ramaphosa at his request.  

Needless to say, the images were of an intimate nature and whilst the source of the information has not been revealed, it became clear that the young woman had not given her consent to have the images published online.

Read: #Ramaphosa - The political "Twitterverse"

Kunene said that he had published the images to justify his claims that Ramaphosa had been conducting illicit affairs. However, the woman went to court to obtain an order that Kunene be compelled to take the images down.

The court found that the dignity and the privacy of the woman had been violated and ordered that the pictures be removed. Kunene was also prohibited from copying or sending the pictures to anyone else. 

Although this matter was decided in the civil court, it could have also resulted in criminal charges as Kunene violated the Electronic Communications Act by intercepting communications without permission. He may also have violated the Sexual Offences Act with the exposure of the images which were sexually graphic, and he almost certainly could be charged with crimen injuria.

Snoopers who intercept images of this nature are treading on dangerous ground. Due to the embarrassment that complainants suffer when these violations occur, they have a greater incentive to take action against the perpetrators and it is unlikely that any court will justify this type of gross violation.

Shepstone & Wylie Social Media Law Department