WhatsApp messages
NPC: Census will not consider religion, ethnicity
The National Population Commission says the population census will not take into consideration the number of adherents of any religion or the number of members of ethnic groups. It, therefore, denied including a religious category in the questionnaires being distributed in the first pre-test exercise for the next population and housing census in the country. The Director, Public Affairs of the NPC, Udi Joseph, said this in a statement on Wednesday while reacting to viral Whatsapp messages claiming the NPC had made two separate categories for Muslims and one category for Christians in its questionnaire. In a statement titled, ‘NPC Refutes Fake News on Religion in Census Questionnaires’, the organisation said even in previous population census exercises, religion and ethnicity were not consi...
Sending These WhatsApp Messages Can Land You Jail Time in SA
South Africa’s Cybercrimes Bill has finally been signed to law by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Now an act of parliament, the bill seeks to bring the country’s cybersecurity laws in line with the rest of the world. One of the features of the new bill is the creation of offences and the criminalisation of, amongst others, the disclosure of data messages which are harmful. What this means is that if you send someone a WhatsApp message containing illegal material or with violent intentions, you can now be prosecuted for it. Examples of data messages now criminalised include: Messages which incite violence or damage to property. Messages which threaten persons with violence or damage to property. Messages which contain an intimate image sent without the subject’s consent. However, this isn’t just...
