There’s a lot to take in here, but let’s start with the headline on News24: “Christian poet harassed by porn WhatsApp groups run by a ‘mentally challenged’ rabbit farmer”.

If your mind just exploded, you’re not alone. But don’t panic, I’m going to walk you through it.

The first thing you need to know is that this story takes place in a small South African town. Warrenton in the Northern Cape, to be more precise.

Having spent a fair amount of time in small towns, I can tell you that this kind of drama isn’t uncommon, and any drama is immediately weirder than it would be anywhere else.

Anyway, here we are:

A writer of Afrikaans Christian literature is fearing for her life after reportedly outing members of “pornographic” WhatsApp groups.

…Martie Wessels from Warrenton in the Northern Cape was sick with worry after being harassed for weeks by members of these groups, many of whom she outed on Facebook by publishing pictures of them.

When Martie Wessels was added to a WhatsApp porn group, she decided to do some investigating. She started calling the members of the group from different phones, saying that she was from the municipality, thereby tricking them into revealing their identities.

She then posted pictures of the more than 20 group members on Facebook with the following caption:

“I was added to another group called ‘Porn Videos’. Everyone involved is surely possessed by some or other devil, because the pictures exposing your bodies indicate to me that you are sick in your brains.”

Wessels claims that the ringleader of the group is a woman who farms rabbits, whom she describes as “mentally challenged”. This woman lives in a caravan in the Pretoria area.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Wessels said she was first added to a “pornographic” WhatsApp group three weeks ago. She reported the group and left it but was later added to similar groups.

To her distress, the latest iteration of these groups is called “Martie se porngroepie” (Martie’s porn group), using the cover of her Christian poetry book as its profile image…

Following her Facebook post, she started receiving threats.

They sent me horrible messages. They told me they were going to come to my house and kill me…”

A man only known as “Bees” told Wessels he “only needed to make one call” and she would be “taken away”.

Another anonymous caller would simply breathe excessively and cough. Wessels said she was told by one person that the purpose of the groups was to “raise funds” for the rabbit farmer.

“But to raise funds in this way is ridiculous,” she said.

The pornographic material posted to the WhatsApp group consisted of “home-made photos and videos of the members themselves”, so nothing illegal was happening apart from the resultant death threats and harassment.

Wessels, on the other hand, imitated a government employee to obtain private information, and then posted pictures of people on social media accusing them of demonic possession.

Since Volksblad ran the article on Monday, Wessels has not received any further death threats, or been added to any more groups. Next time she should probably leave the investigating to the police.

Hope that cleared things up. You gotta love a small-town soapie.

[source:news24]