By Thokozani Mtshali
Home affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba paid surprise visits to a number of sex shops in Cape Town on Tuesday to check if they were trading in illegal material including child pornography.
Gigaba was accompanied by Western Cape MEC for social services and poverty alleviation, Kholeka Mqulwana, and film and publications board CEO Shokie Bopape-Dlomo.
They also visited Internet cafés around the city to check if they had enough security measures in place to prevent syndicates from using them to peddle child pornography.
They also visited Internet cafés around the city Gigaba said Internet shops were targeted because it was clear that they were used as bases by those involved in child pornography.
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The government was also monitoring cellular phone companies as cellphones were increasingly used to disseminate unwanted sex material.
The blitz on sex shops and Internet cafés marks the beginning of the home affairs department's drive to clamp down on child pornography and to prevent the sale of illegal pornographic material to the public as these sometimes ended up in the hands of children.
Gigaba and his team visited the Adult World factory in Parow East, where they were taken on a floor by floor tour by the store managers.
They delegation were checking to see that all the products on display were been approved by the Films and Publications Board.
'We will take action in terms of the law' No sign of illicit trading or the display of products that did not conform with the regulations of the Films and Publications Act were found.
But the store's managing director, Arthur Calamaras, was a trifle embarrassed when he had to remove some postcards from the shelves which the team felt "uncomfortable" about.
The offending postcards had pictures of semi-naked children with messages, which according to Mqulwana and Bopape-Dlomo "were unsuitable and worrying".
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