PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has ordered officials to toughen South Africa’s laws against child pornography, which is apparently flooding into the country via the Internet. Mbeki’s order follows the arrest last week of two media personalities for having a large amount of pornography in their home, allegedly bought over the Internet. Police have confirmed that a judge and a lawyer are being investigated on similar charges, the Sunday Times reported. ”The president is deeply concerned,” Esspo Pahad, Minister in the President’s Office, told the newspaper. ”All government departments have been called on to do everything possible to limit and, if possible, eradicate this peddling of heinous information.” Deputy Home Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu will head the special team tasked with tightening the laws, for example by making it easier for police to search the homes of suspects. Another measure being considered is to force Internet service providers to report offenders and store images as evidence against them. Sisulu said the deluge of child porn had forced the government to adopt a ”vicious approach.” ”Some will calls us draconian, but we will continue to review and change legislation to fight access to chlid porn,” she said. Certain pornographic material is legal in South Africa but child pornography is among the types which are not. Possession carries a fine of R5000 or imprisonment for up to five years but there has yet to be a conviction. Police say that the current laws make it very difficult to search private homes for pornographic material.
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