According Hmetro Zimbabwe, in a case of revenge p-orn, a jilted Harare man threatened to use social media to destroy his ex-girlfriend before he went on to post n-de pictures of the girl where he alleged that the latter had infected him with HIV.
He had taken a video of the woman whilst she was not aware. He asked the admin of the Facebook group to hide his identity and gave all the details of the girl, lying that she was HIV positive.
The man, identified as Thompson Khaka, last week in a WhatsApp conversation vowed to use Social Media to tarnish the image of a woman he had dated for almost a year. Two days later, he posted nude pictures of the woman.
Efforts to get a comment from Thompson were fruitless as his mobile number was not getting through while he did not reply questions sent to him by H-Metro by the time of going to print.
The ex-girlfriend who reported to Hmetro was in shock adding that she did not believe that Thompson would go to such length to tarnish her image.
“He had earlier threatened to do this but I thought he was only joking and just wanted us to get back together. I was shocked when I received calls from friends and relatives who had seen the nude pictures and his post.
“I never posed nude for pictures. He took a video of me coming from the bath and I never saw how he did it.
“Why should he use social media to destroy me? It only takes a single post to destroy one’s life. What if my parents see those pictures and the post? I have a life to live and I don’t know why he wants to destroy me like this.”
Following his post, Thompson has come under fire by some social media users who criticised him for his childish behaviour further challenging him to prove that he had been infected with HIV by the ex-girlfriend.
H-Metro helped the victim to have the post pulled down from Facebook and it was removed within an hour, even though some of them had find their way on some sites already.
Cases of revenge porn over the years have been on the rise and activists have already petitioned the Zimbabwe Parliament to consider the ban of revenge pornography.
The law would protect people from having their nude photos or videos leaked (usually by an ex) on internet or social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook where such material easily goes viral.
Globally, some developed countries have Revenge Porn laws although Africa is yet to specifically recognise revenge porn as a crime.
Zimbabwe is currently relying on laws prohibiting the broadcasting and distribution of regular pornography, anti-harassment laws, and the use of mobile phones to send harassing messages.
