Task force wants prostitution decriminalised
Barbara Cole
January 09 2006 at 10:24AM

Decriminalising the sex industry would enable prostitutes - including the hundreds in Durban's Point area - to get better protection in the workplace.

But opponents to liberalising laws governing sex workers have vowed to put up a fierce fight about the issue.

Should sex work be legalised, prostitutes would have access to services such as the opening of bank accounts and getting access to loans.

Given the country's labour laws, they would be able to take their escort agency bosses to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), said Anna Weekes, the legal advocacy and lobbying co-ordinator of Sweat (the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force), a national organisation with links to sex workers around the country.

"They cannot go to the CCMA at the moment as their work is viewed as criminal," said Weekes who is based in Cape Town.

A former Durban prostitute told the Daily News that escort agencies took 50 percent of a worker's income.

Weekes said that legislation affecting sex workers was currently under review.

"The South African Law Reform Commission is in the process of producing a discussion paper on possible changes to the legislation dealing with adult sex work. Once this paper is produced, the public will have the opportunity to make submissions. It is important that those submissions are well informed and all factors are taken into account," Sweat said.

On Sunday night, Pastor Krish Naidoo, chairman of the Point Community Policing Forum in Durban, said he would vigorously oppose any moves to legalise the industry, which he argued would be against the country's moral regeneration programme.

Naidoo invited Sweat representatives to come to the Point to see the situation for themselves.

"It is a crime-generator and sex workers are endangering themselves as well as other people in society," he said.

However, Sweat said that people should support the decriminalisation of sex work "even if they are against sex work".

It is time to start considering other options "if it is indeed our aim to prevent the exploitation of women and men in the industry, to contain the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and to address concerns around 'moral and social collapse'."

The country now has the chance to look at what has worked and not worked in other countries "and then to tailor a response appropriate to the South African situation, in line with our constitution and rights contained within it".

While not all sex work was linked to organised crime, there is no doubt that there is an overlap.

"This is not surprising, as it is the illegal status of sex work that makes it an appropriate partner to organised crime."

Sex workers were unable to find accommodation like other people (because their work was illegal) but accommodation was always available from drug dealers.

Sex workers, who are often beaten up or raped, are reluctant to approach the police because they are arrested on a continuous basis.

Instead they turn to pimps, boyfriends or other sex workers for protection.

Organisations like Sweat are involved in educating sex workers about the prevention of the spread of STIs and HIV.

Sweat says that "criminalising the industry creates an environment where sex workers are more exposed to criminal acts, such as rape and assault, and advocating its continuation makes us an accomplice to those crimes perpetrated against sex workers".

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