Public protector calls for sextortion to be charged as corruption
Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka says sexual extortion already fits the legal definition of corruption and should be prosecuted as such.
Sextortion must be treated as a form of corruption, and its perpetrators charged accordingly, public protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka said on Wednesday.
She argued that such conduct constitutes gratification, as defined in the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
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Speaking at the second University of Stellenbosch symposium on gender inequality and anti-corruption in Bellville, Cape Town, she said South Africa’s anti-corruption law does not require a gratification to have a monetary value.
“South Africa’s anti-corruption statute does not require a gratification to have a monetary value, meaning sexual corruption is arguably already corruption under existing law.
“What is missing is not the offence, but the charge, the prosecution, the record, and the count.”
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Sextortion is defined by bodies, such as Transparency International and the International Association of Women Judges, as the abuse of entrusted power for sexual, rather than financial, benefit.
Gcaleka also proposed that reporting channels for such cases should exclude the offices of the alleged perpetrators, to prevent interference.
The three-day symposium forms part of the university’s school of public leadership’s women’s month commemorations.
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