Patricia de Lille, leader of minority political party the Independent Democrats, has repeated her statement that cellphone instant messaging service Mxit is destroying relationships and enables men to lure boys and girls into "traps".
De Lille's latest statement, posted on her party's Web site, follows another several days ago, in which she asked government to urgently regulate Mxit and Internet blogging.
Her statements do not mean she is against freedom of speech, or wants to limit freedom of choice, she points out.
"However, this country still has a very fragile social fabric and these technologies, if not used responsibly, will tear that apart."
SA has one of the highest incidents of rape and sexual abuse of minors in the world, with incidents of rape, drug-related crimes and indecent assault all being closely related, she adds.
Misconceptions
In response to De Lille, Mxit brand manager Laura Hallam says there are many misconceptions in her statement and that the instant messaging service has instituted several methods to protect its users.
Hallam says Mxit takes the safety of its users very seriously and there is a safety policy that is communicated "through every available channel, and each and every time a user enters a chatroom". The key to safety in chatrooms is anonymity - keeping personal information private, she notes.
"We are very aware that predation is an ugly reality and are working to improve our chatroom offering so that it provides safe spaces for our users. New chatroom features, with supporting moderation tools, are being tested and will be ready for launch by mid-June.
"I would also like to bring Ms De Lille's attention to the fact that there are thousands of chatrooms available on the Internet, many of which contain and condone unsuitable material for children. Modern phone technology enables many of the phones that use GPRS and 3G to access these chatrooms via the default Web browser."
Dene Smuts, Democratic Alliance MP, says criminal activity, whether it is on the Internet, or via Mxit, has to be regulated by the normal criminal laws.
"It doesn't matter through what medium such activity takes place, there are laws in place dealing with it."
Smuts says specific laws to deal with such Internet criminal behaviour would be almost impossible to enforce.
A senior Department of Communications official, who asked to remain anonymous, says regulating content on the Internet or via cellphones is an "impossible task".
"As soon as you slam one door, another opens. However, we have our hands full with other issues such as pricing and connectivity," the official says.
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