Prince Kaybee catches flak

PRINCE Kaybee has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately.

Social media has been abuzz with activity following the news that the multi-award winning hitmaker has been caught cheating on his longterm girlfriend.

While followers and fans have been giving their own opinions on the matter, Prince Kaybee put out a statement on Twitter confirming the allegations.

He tweeted: “I cheated, I humiliated my girlfriend publicly.

“To the people I have disappointed, the businesses I represent, my girlfriend and my mother, I profusely apologise from the bottom of my heart.”

An alleged picture of the DJ showing his private parts has also been doing the rounds.

This is not the first time a public figure’s dirty laundry is aired.

In 2018 a video containing material of a sexual nature of former Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba went viral.

Gigaba claimed that the footage was stolen from his phone after it was hacked in 2016.

The posting of sexual material can also be a criminal offence as revenge porn is illegal in South Africa. According to the Films and Publications Amendment Act, people are prohibited from distributing private sexual photographs and films.

“No person may expose, through any medium, including the internet and social media, a private sexual photograph or film if the disclosure is made without the consent of the individual or individuals who appear in the photograph or film; and with the intention of causing that individual harm.”

According to the act, a photograph or film is “private” if, judging from the context in which the photograph or film is taken or made, it was not intended by any individual in the photograph or film to be seen by others.

The alleged picture of Prince Kaybee doing the rounds was shared on social media on various platforms.

Social media expert and author of the book Selfies, Sexts and Smartphones, Emma Sadleir, said in an interview that in South African law, each person is responsible for the content they share.

She added that many people were lost in the “myth of anonymity”, where people thought they could do whatever they wanted to do online without consequences.

“(It’s like) they press a button and they are no longer a citizen of South Africa and the rules don’t apply to them anymore.

“We talk about the laws applying, but also any ethical obligations and contractual obligations. You can’t bite the hands that feed you,” Sadleir warned.

She said the anonymity myth was a big thing that saw ordinary people, and not just celebrities, getting into trouble.

In 2018 media personality Uyanda Mbuli won a case of defamation after a woman alleged that the reality star had an affair with her boyfriend.

The woman was sentenced to a R6 000 fine or four months’ imprisonment for her Facebook post.

Mbuli laid a crimen injuria case against Joyce Molamu for her defamatory statements.