Harsher penalties and more stringent laws would make South Africans intolerant of child pornography and spread the message that children do not need such filth in their lives, said Malusi Gigaba, the deputy minister of home affairs.
Gigaba said pornography, especially images of children over the Internet and on mobile cellphones, were on the increase and despite its best efforts, the government was unable to act against perpetrators.
"We need to clamp down on child pornography. The only way to manage this is to tighten the legislation and make it even more difficult for [it] to be available," he said.
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Gigaba said that research from the Film and Publications Board (FPB) showed that an increasing number of children in the country had been exposed to sexual images over the Internet. "Not only are we dealing with the issue of child pornography but the issue of easy access of pornographic material to children," he said.
He said research showed that children could be heavily affected by exposure to pornography and that society, particularly parents and teachers, should join hands to protect the young.
"We have not been happy with the outcome in some cases where people dealing with child pornography escape with light sentences," he said, calling for tougher sanctions so that it would be a strong deterrent.
Earlier in March, police in Austria uncovered a major international child pornography ring involving more than 2 360 suspects from 77 countries, including suspects in South Africa, who allegedly paid to view videos of young children being sexually abused.
The investigation began in July when a man working for a Vienna-based Internet file-hosting service approached authorities to say he had noticed the pornographic material during a routine check.
The man blocked access to the videos while recording the Internet provider addresses of people who continued to try to download the material, and gave the details to authorities.
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