Pretoria – The National House of Traditional Leaders, through its chairman Ikosi Sipho Mahlangu, has apologised after a naked woman accidentally appeared on screen during a virtual meeting of Parliament’s portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs.
In a statement, Mahlangu said the incident happened “as a result of an unintentional encroachment into the private space of a family of one of the participants in the committee meeting, and it is regrettable”.
A video clip of the naked woman showing up in the background while traditional leader Inkosi Xolile Ndevu made a presentation during the online meeting set Twitter abuzz earlier this week. Visibly disturbed portfolio committee chairwoman Faith Muthambi reprimanded Ndevu during the meeting, saying this had happened before.
“Inkosi, the person behind you is not properly dressed, we are seeing everything, yho! This is very disturbing what we are seeing. And this is not the first time this is happening, every time we see you, we see these unholy pictures. You are on live television,” she said.
The National House of Traditional Leaders said the incident was an example of how virtual meetings could be an invasion of family privacy.
“Even though there are many benefits brought about by virtual meetings, there are inherent challenges. Virtual platforms have a propensity to encroach on individual private spaces as they sometimes allow for meetings to go beyond normal working hours, thus imposing on some of the family activities especially in the evening,” said Mahlangu.
“Many are having a difficult time adjusting to accommodate their personal and professional lives in what used to be a private space where quality time is spent with family. This ability to work remotely from home brings with it major challenges, as it encroaches on the privacy of family members.”
He said many people using virtual platforms had not been “formally prepared or trained” to use the channels.
The National House of Traditional Leaders appealed to social media users to avoid distributing the explicit video, which has been widely shared, particularly on Twitter.
“The distribution of such explicit material that violates the dignity of the affected parties and their family does not show compassion and ubuntu (humanity), which we are accustomed to as South Africans,” said Mahlangu.
“While the lady in the video was not aware that the camera was on and that she was visible on the virtual platforms, the situation painted an unfortunate picture of what might happen when work invades personal family space.”
African News Agency (ANA)