Windhoek
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) is again asking the public to stop circulating videos and photos that contain sensitive material, particularly of victims of accidents and crime.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana issued the statement following the circulation of a video of the bodies of Jacqueline and Cecilia Kuaseua, who were murdered in the capital last Friday, allegedly by 33-year-old Ananias Kamati, a teacher at Augustinium high school.
Ua-Ndjarakana said the circulation of such videos is not only immoral, inhuman and traumatising to the family of the two recently murdered women, but also unconstitutional as it infringes on the right of individuals to privacy.
“As human beings and responsible citizens we have the responsibility to respect the right to privacy of other human beings. We ought to respect the privacy of the family in this difficult time,” the statement added. The ministry also warned the public to stop taking videos and photos of violent incidents for circulation on social media.
Khomasdal North Constituency Councillor and vice-chairperson of the National Council Margaret Mensah-Williams has been vocal in requesting Facebook users to remove the videos.
“Can someone please ask this young lady to remove the video of the two murdered girls? She placed it, saying ‘Someone is sick who took the video’, yet she posted it on her wall,” Mensah-Williams wrote in an online response to the circulation of sensitive video footage. In another post Mensah-Williams pleaded: “Good afternoon fellow Namibians. The video which was placed on Facebook of the two sisters who were murdered Friday, please remove it.
It is sickening. How will you feel if it was your family. Please, it’s disrespectful. I am with the family and they are saddened and ask [that you] please remove it immediately. Let’s be Christians and morally support the family”.
Last year the director of information and communication technology development (ICT) in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Henri Kassen, revealed that the ministry is in the process of finalising a law that will govern online activity through the Electronic Transaction and Cyber Crimes Bill.
Contained in the proposed law is a clause that provides legal remedies to punish those posting sensitive content and offers recourse to those wronged by offensive postings.
The so-called ‘take down notice’ clause would allow parties to apply for defamatory and insensitive content to be removed from internet sites to prevent further publication.