Early smartphone take up and unsupervised parental usage are giving South Africa’s children easy access to pornography.
CHILDREN as young as nine are already addicted to pornography and even six year olds are taking nude pictures of themselves.
Research by the non-profit National Centre for Child Protection (NCCP) shows that the unsupervised use of cell phones plays a large role in the early sexualisation of children who are free to watch whatever they like, leaving them vulnerable to sexual predators.
The organisation’s CEO Danie Van Loggerenberg says during their conversations with 400 000 children over a three year period they found that 21% of children watch porn every day and 59% watch it on a regular basis.
He says parents and schools inadvertently encourage this when they give their children devices to “keep them busy” or schools ask pupils to follow them on social media.
“The younger they are, the more comfortable they are with any form of porn, whether it be hard or soft porn. Once they get to a certain age, they don't want the soft porn anymore because then they know what it is, they want something more.”
He says at one school at least 75 children indicated that someone on social media had asked them to take nude selfies and in most cases they did not know the person.
“We're busy with a case now where a 58-to-65 year old gentleman was interacting with 12 and 13 year olds, lying to them about his age, speaking to them as a 15 year old. We found that he's got 15 year old twins so he's able to speak the lingo. He then convinced these girls to send him naked photographs and he then also sent them naked photographs,” said van Loggerenberg.
He said often girls were emotionally blackmailed when they wanted to stop the cycle because the perpetrator would threaten to harm himself and even his family if the girls disobeyed them. In one case a man sent a picture of his arm which appeared to be covered in blood and told a girl he had cut himself and she was to blame.
The National Centre for Child Protection’s figures also show that children usually receive their first smart phone in Grade R at the age of six. By the age of 10, 64% of them have access to a smartphone or tablet; 86% of high school children have their own cell phones while 80% of children have access to a second phone.
Van Loggerenberg said on average children were first exposed to pornography at the age of seven while victims of “sexual imagery” could be just a few months old.
“So when they turn 16 or 17 we find a lot of girls that were raped or molested when they were young use porn as a safety net where they get acceptance. So they sleep with boys or they create photos and videos, and that’s what keeps them popular because then everybody likes them.”
He has also warned parents about online gaming sites like Roblox, Minecraft, Call of Duty and Rocket League where children can easily speak to strangers and be exposed to online predators and paedophiles.
Then there are the many dating apps that children use where they can easily just change their date of birth to get access. He said some sites like OnlyFans also paid for naked pictures.
“When you live in a country where people are really poor and desperate for money and where children are not getting the attention they deserve, where fathers are absent, a website like this is magical because you can make money. It's so easy because no one needs to know and I guess the people who do know won't actually tell anyone,” van Loggerenberg said.
Childline’s KZN Director Adeshini Naicker said that in their work they found that children were increasingly exposed to pornography through the internet, social media and peer pressure, often leading to them sexting or sharing explicit content.
She said this could be due to curiosity, manipulation by predators, or social influence, and could have serious psychological consequences, including confusion, guilt, anxiety, and distorted views on sex and relationships.
Naicker said that early exposure to porn could also lead to legal issues, social isolation, or exploitation. “Children get involved with explicit content due to curiosity during puberty, often without understanding the risks. Social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok can expose them or pressure them into sharing explicit material. Additionally, predators may manipulate children through emotional manipulation or false promises of affection,” she said.
Dr Daphne Mawila a psychology lecturer at the University of Johannesburg understands the problem all too well, not only as a counsellor but also as a mom whose young daughter was exposed to it by a friend. Mawila said she and her husband picked it up when they monitored her child’s phone but when they alerted the child’s mom she just brushed it off. Mawila said you could often see that a child was exposed to pornography by the games they play as she had witnessed at a school.
“A child took a female doll and put it on the floor and then took a male doll and put it on top. When I started engaging with this child she said this is what I saw on TV. So they don't have the mental capacity and that's where the problem is, because it makes them vulnerable. And because children learn by imitation, they also want to try and do what they have seen.”
She said at another school a child “taught” the whole class what she had learnt and it resulted in two classmates trying to enact it in a school toilet.
Both she and van Loggerenberg warned that parents were doing their children a disfavour by not talking about sex because eventually they would learn about it elsewhere and it might not be what they need to know.
She said for many parents, especially in townships, talking about sex was a taboo because they didn't want their children to be exposed to it but then they ended up pregnant anyway.
“So they're already doing it. I honestly feel that the message of education weighs more than the culture, the religion. It's important, it's like a little protection.” She also urged parents to consider why they wanted their children to have devices at a young age, even before they were at school.
Doctor Shaheda Omar, Director at the Teddy Bear Foundation in Parktown, Johannesburg, said that they had conducted research on the sex-related criminal files opened from 2019 to 2024 and there were only convictions in 4% of the cases.
“The charges made were of a serious nature and children continue to be victimized and subjected to secondary trauma. This is clearly a cause for concern as the systems that are supposed to protect children are failing them. This matter needs swift and urgent attention,” said Omar.
Attempts to get hold of the police were unsuccessful.
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