KEY POINTS
- A cybercrime court found Scebi Nene guilty and gave him a five-year sentence for working with pornographic pictures.
- Those images were not of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Bheki Cele or anyone else in the government.
- Nene said his unhappiness with law enforcement was the reason behind his crimes.
The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court sentenced Scebi Nene, who is 36 and lives in KwaZulu-Natal, for altering and sharing fake adult content.
The original images were changed to have President Ramaphosa’s face along with former Police Minister Cele, his wife Thembeka Ngcobo and former National Police Commissioner Sithole.
Why the charge and conviction counts in this case
Nene admitted in court to cyber forgery, cyber uttering and disclosing fake pornographic images. The National Prosecuting Authority claims that between September 2022 and May 2023, he added illicit images to photos of the complainants, trying to mislead the public.
What drove the crime and the punishment for the fake pornographic imagesÂ
During the court hearing, Nene said he informed several police stations, the Hawks, and IPID that someone was following him, but none of them offered help.
Feeling that the institution was ignoring the issue, he made the fake images to demonstrate his disappointment. He also said he regretted his actions and promised the court he would not do it again.
Still, the court decided to send him to prison for five years to discourage similar crimes. The case has sparked renewed calls for stricter online behavior monitoring and harsher penalties for digital violations involving public figures. Legal experts noted that this conviction sets a precedent for prosecuting cybercrimes involving image manipulation and defamation.
Civil society groups also praised the court’s handling of the matter, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding personal dignity and enforcing laws that protect individuals from digital abuse, cybercrime and misinformation.
