Invest in intelligence to manage social media abuse

MBABANE –Percy Simelane, the Director of Communications at the King’s Office, says Eswatini, like all nations, cannot wipe out lack of self-respect or moral decay.

However, he said they could only manage lack of self-respect and moral decay through scaled-up investment in intelligence.

He said the success of law enforcement anywhere in the world was reliant on intelligence.

Simelane, in an interview, said the success of intelligence was in the booking of suspects to face their music in a court of law. He believed the leadership was aware that Eswatini had its own share of sons and daughters who did not respect anyone, including themselves.

The director was called upon to react to the continued abuse of the country’s leaders on social media, mainly Facebook.

In the USA, law enforcement agencies conduct surveillance of social media sites in order to detect and investigate criminal uses of such sites.

Policies have been developed to ensure evidence is legally obtained from these sites and that the privacy of users, civil rights and civil liberties are protected.

While social media is a good interactive platform for society, the US Department of Justice says it can be used to organise and coordinate a civil disorder, plan a robbery, or recruit new members for terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, the director said they would not lose any sleep as a result of belittling, heckling and insults.

Asked about the laws that protect the leaders of the country from ridicule, he said: “We believe the strength of any piece of law or section and clause is in its legal enforcement.”

He said rogue priests who did not respect anyone, including themselves, insulted, lied against, beat and crucified Jesus Christ. More than 2000 years down the line, Simelane said the clergy had not forgotten about Jesus Christ ‘as they still pray to Him’.

He said there was a SeSotho idiom which fitted best to what was happening to Eswatini’s leadership in the wake of lawlessness. He said he would not repeat it because it could sound very foul.

He said they would continue to expect responsible behaviour from all emaSwati even during trying times.

Simelane reminded the country’s partners in development, international organisations, embassies and high commissions that the sovereign soul of Eswatini was not for sale.

“We can only hope it is not true that some of them are hunting with the hounds and running with the rabbits as it were,” the director of communications at the King’s Office said.

On March 4, 2022, the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) published the Computer Crime and Cybercrime Act No.6 of 2022.

In particular, the Computer Crime and Cybercrime Act enacts, among other things, to criminalise offences committed against, and through the usage of computer systems and electronic communications networks, to provide for investigation and collection of evidence for computer and network-related crimes, to provide for the admission of electronic evidence for such offences, to establish the National Cybersecurity Advisory Council, and to give powers to the commission to regulate and coordinate cybersecurity matters.

Section 28 of the Computer and Cybercrime Act of 2020 provides that: “Any person who intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification or in excess of a lawful excuse or justification initiates any electronic communication, with the intention to coerce, intimidate, insult and harass or cause emotional distress to a person, using a computer system, to support hostile behaviour commits an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding E1 000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.”

CYBERCRIMINALS

According to the Eswatini Cybersecurity Strategy 2020-2025, cybercriminals who commit cybercrimes within the country’s jurisdiction might either be based locally, or across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, or another part of the world. It is said that the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) has in recent years, been reporting and detecting cybercrime activities, including identifying the perpetrators.

However, like other law enforcement forces across the world, REPS continues to face difficulties in conducting investigations, collecting electronic evidence and prosecuting cybercrimes.

These challenges are exacerbated by the sophistication of the cyber-attacks and cross-border nature of the crimes committed.

It is stated in the country’s strategy that cyber criminals continue to use increasingly sophisticated techniques to commit cybercrimes, and prefer jurisdictions where there is limited investigation and/ or reciprocate prosecutorial capabilities.

It is said that the REPS is currently enhancing its capacity to investigate cybercrimes, and collaboration with other law enforcement agencies from the SADC region and Interpol to pursue and prosecute cybercriminals. It is predicted that Eswatini will continue to face cyber threats perpetuated by cybercriminals in the foreseeable future.