Prostitutes flock to SA ahead of World Cup
http://nehandaradio.com/2010/05/13/prostitutes-flock-to-sa-ahead-of-world-cup/Diaspora, Headlines — By admin on May 13, 2010 at 11:52 am
By Savious Kwinika
Johannesburg — Zimbabwe's sex workers are deserting their country for
greener pastures in South Africa as the World Cup 2010 draws nearer,
causing human rights and church groups worldwide to call for measures
to curb human trafficking and prostitution. But the economic promise
offered by the arrival of some 500,000 World Cup foreign fans is
already attracting impoverished workers.
"If ever there was time to make money, this is the right time," says
Shuvai, a Zimbabwean commercial sex worker working at Maxime Hotel in
Johannesburg.
The 22-year-old says she arrived in Johannesburg on March 27 with
eight fellow prostitutes from Zimbabwe, north of the Limpopo River.
She says that she came because of all the international visitors for
the World Cup, June 11 – July 11.
The event is no stranger to the sex trade. The 2006 World Cup in
Germany, where brothels and prostitution is legalized, brought on an
additional influx of an estimated 40,000 sex workers – plus a lot of
criticism from rights groups. South Africa's Central Drug Central
Authority has also estimated that 40,000 sex workers will come to
Johannesburg for the 2010 World Cup, though the agency gives no
reasoning for this figure.
A check of eight popular Johannesburg hotels – Maxime Hotel, Royal
Hotel, Hillbrow Inn, Ambassador Hotel, Diplomat Hotel, Little Rose
Hotel, Summit Hotel, and Orion Devonshire Hotel – and others in
Sandton, Fourways, Crego, Rosebank, Midrand, and Boksburg showed them
to be filled with newly arrived prostitutes, most of them from
Zimbabwe.
'Competition is tight'
Hotel employees also say they have seen a recent influx of
prostitutes.
"From the look of the fully booked hotels around Johannesburg and
Pretoria, we think these female sex workers could exceed 40,000," says
one hotel general manager, declining to be identified. "There are some
from outside Africa from as far as China, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong,
and Venezuela, who are here for prostitution."
Young prostitutes appear to be organized into groups led by a elder
women who smuggles the girls here from Zimbabwe, says Ushe Nyahunzvi,
a man from Zimbabwe who works at the Hillbrow Inn.
"These [elder] women are the ones who smuggle them from their native
countries for the purposes of using the girls to make a living. Old
women are losing business hence using the girls," Mr. Nyahunzvi says.
"The competition is very tight because of the World Cup."
'I will be able to buy my own car'
Cyril Mwamba, 32, says she traveled more than 1,700 miles from
Zambia's Ndola Copperbelt to reach the World Cup. Along the way, she
met up with Zimbabwean prostitutes at a bus station, and she says they
decided to travel together to Johannesburg for the opportunities here.
"When we came here [Summit Hotel], we were not so sure whether we
would be able to attract rich and well-paying men since back home in
Zambia men were looking down upon us," she says. She says she now
earns R2,000 (about $270) per night.
"I am convinced that after the World Cup, I will be able to buy my own
car," Ms. Mwamba says. "Cars are cheap here in South Africa."
While South African officials have long had difficulty keeping out
illegal immigrants, South Africa's Department of Home Affairs says it
has tightened its borders to prevent human trafficking during the
World Cup.
"We do not have evidence [of prostitutes entering the country], but
will always make sure that no illegals, particularly human
traffickers, enter the country through our ports," says a senior Home
Affairs official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to speak with the media.
Nevertheless, cross-border bus drivers say that the bulk of their
passengers in the month of April have been women, an unusual
phenomenon because it has traditionally been men who travel to South
Africa for work.
"We strongly suspect that these women are here to do prostitution, and
nothing else," says Munashe Gomo, a bus driver outside Braamfontein
Station.
Economy sends women into prostitution
As the richest country in southern Africa, with long and porous
borders with some of southern Africa's poorest countries, South Africa
has long attracted millions of economic migrants from Zimbabwe,
Mozambique, and even the Democratic Republic of Congo. The month-long
World Cup, which will draw an estimated half a million people and
generate $3 billion in revenues, only adds to this attraction.
Most of the women arriving here for the sex trade appear to be from
Zimbabwe because of the economic desperation there. The situation
there is so bad that some women are divorcing their husbands and
hoping the World Cup will bring them fortune, says Kudakwashe Zimuto,
an elder in Mahoto Village in Zimbabwe's Masvingo province.
"Marriages are fast breaking up with women choosing to stay alone in
South Africa's hotels and lodges," Mr. Zimuto said by telephone. "But
the most unfortunate part, is what are they going to do after the
World Cup?"
That appears to be of small concern to the women themselves, who are
already elbowing for business space ahead of the games. "Old
prostitutes are threatening us, and they call us foreigners," says
Janet Mashavira of Marondera, Zimbabwe, who works at the Little Rose
Hotel in the Hillbrow section of Johannesburg.
Prostitution is illegal in South Africa, though some groups have
called for its legalization ahead of the World Cup. One
parliamentarian, George Lekgetho, has said legalization "is one of the
things that would make it a success" while it could also reduce
incidents of rape and instituting brothel standards.
Police spokeswoman Colonel N. Kweza says the law enforcement agency is
arresting many prostitutes in Johannesburg's central business
district, but she adds that the Department of Justice determines fines
and penalties. The Department of Justice refused to comment unless
questions were received in writing. The Monitor is waiting for answers
to a submitted list of written questions, including details on the
penalties for sex trafficking, pimping, prostituting, and soliciting.
Home Affairs Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa also declined to answer
questions unless received in writing.
Rights groups call for intervention
With the World Cup's June 11 kick-off only weeks away, human rights
activists and church groups are urging hotels in South Africa to
ensure that their places of business are not used for the sex trade.
One group, the New York-based Christian Brothers Investment Services
(CBIS), wrote an open letter April 21 to South African hotels and
tourist operations urging them to help combat human trafficking and
child prostitution.
"While the lodging industry is certainly not responsible for these
tragic crimes, they are in a unique position to help prevent them by
taking steps to stop the use of their hotels for this purpose," Julie
Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing at CBIS
in New York, said in a press release.
The letter calls for hotels to coordinate with police and anti-
trafficking organizations, to educate staff in identifying potential
victims and reporting incidents, and to inform guests of the penalties
for human trafficking and sex abuse of children. Some hotels have
already signed the Christian Brothers' agreement, while others argue
that what their customers do is their personal affair.
The Catholic Church, according to one media report, is telling its
parishoners to be on the watch for immigrant women in South Africa who
may have been forced into the sex trade. "With these people, the
Catholic volunteers try to establish dialogue and help them to emerge
from the nightmare that they have been thrown into by criminals. Our
first task is opening our doors to these people," said Fr. Chris
Townsend, a spokesman of theBishop's Conference of South Africa,
Botswana, and Swaziland (SACBC).
Raising HIV/AIDS awareness
Fear that the World Cup could bring an increase in prostitution and
sex trafficking is also raising concerns of spread of disease. In
South Africa, an estimated 5.7 million people are diagnosed with HIV.
An estimated 1,000 people die from AIDS-related diseases each day,
according to the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF).
Groups are calling for prostitutes to insist on using condoms.
"The AIDS Consortium is encouraging all entities that have the
capacity to supply condoms to as many places as possible to do so and
with other organizations who do similar work," says Rhulani Lehloka,
communications manager for The Aids Consortium, South Africa's leading
non-governmental organization that deals with HIV/AIDS.
The South African government appears to support the condom drive.
While President Jacob Zuma – a polygamist and father of 20 children –
has in the past expressed disdain for condoms, in April his government
announced a campaign to distribute some 1.5 billion this year.
Joyce Dube, executive director of the Southern African Women's
Institute on Migration Affairs in Johannesburg, says that condom use
is already high among Zimbabwean prostitutes, who charge higher fees
for men who do not want to use a condom. Christian Science Monitor
--
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. - Mohandas Gandhi
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