On Thursday Morning a National Assembly meeting hosted via the conferencing app, Zoom, was interrupted by “hackers”.
The uninvited guests insulted National Assembly Speaker, Thandi Modise, and displayed pornographic images. They gained access to the meeting after the meeting password and ID was shared on the Parliamentary Twitter account.
The meeting was forced to end and a new one had to be created.
A similar incident occurred earlier this year when a meeting chaired by Minister of Women, Youth and Persons Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, was also hacked.
Member of Parliament, Natasha Mazzone, proposed that the running and efficiency of virtual parliamentary meetings be discussed to prevent future meetings from being hacked.
Modise has expressed that she is hesitant to continue using Zoom to conduct meetings out of fear that she will be compromised again.
