Rehana Rossouw
South Africa will once again have sex police, like it did when police shone torches into bedrooms hunting people having sex across the colour line, if the draft Bill prepared by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies succeeds, a sex worker organisation warned this week.
“We are going to need policemen in brothels, ensuring that prostitutes wear a condom each time they have sex,” said Shane Petzer, programmes co-ordinator of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat), the only organised body representing sex workers in the
“If the industry is legalised, there will be a special legal framework which sets it apart from other industries and continues to stigmatise the people employed there.
“We want the industry to be decriminalised, and then for all the laws and practices which govern other business to apply to it as well. For instance, you don’t need a special law prohibiting paedophilia — any industry is prohibited from employing children.”
Petzer said almost every clause of the Bill, except for the recognition awarded to the industry, would be unacceptable to sex workers.
Sweat was formed in September 1994 after a number of researchers and Aids awareness campaigners investigated the sex worker industry in Cape Town. Unlike other parts of the country, Cape Town has an almost equal number of women and men employed in the industry, and the services offered by Sweat are tailored to meet their needs.
Health care workers are either paid or volunteer their skills to provide psychological and medical care, offering a free condom delivery service, safe-sex workshops, HIV and Aids testing, STD screening and treatment, drug counselling and rape and abuse
“We also offer skills training, like how to give massages, offer clients what they want, management training, draft employment contracts and rosters for sex workers, conflict resolution training and self- defence,” Petzer said.
“We will also support any attempt by sex workers to collectivise. They may form proper trade unions at some stage, and Sweat could then die.”
Sweat has endorsed the World Charter for Prostitutes’ Rights, which calls for the decriminalisation of adult prostitution, the extension of standard business codes to the industry and the protection of the human rights of prostitutes.
Petzer said sex workers did not require legislation to enforce regular testing for STDs. This was not only a denial of their rights, but completely unnecessary, as they were more aware of infection than people whose sexual relations were motivated by love and were therefore more willing to trust their partners.s, at the brothel owners’ expense.
Murphy said although he expected vigorous opposition to these clauses, as they could be interpreted as infringing sex workers’ human rights, he believed they were justifiable because of the high risk of spreading STDs in the industry.
“Many prostitutes who know they are infected with HIV continue to work without informing their clients and it is a well-known fact that some clients are willing to pay extra if a condom is not used,” he said.
Prostitutes’ welfare will be protected under a clause which moots the establishment of a consultative group which will advise government on matters affecting the commercial sex industry, prostitutes and the community.
Prostitutes could address their complaints to the group, which should be co-ordinated by the Ministry of
The draft Bill argues that, if prostitution counts as work, then, as workers, prostitutes should enjoy certain rights. Prostitutes and their employers should be subject to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Labour Relations Act, the Occupational Health and Safety laws and the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
Brothels will not be confined to certain areas, except for restrictions from operating near schools and places of worship. Residents could, however, use the courts to object to a brothel in a specific area.
“We are definitely not in favour of setting up a red light district or moving all the brothels to industrial areas. What would probably happen is lower-income areas would suffer and, as clients come from all walks of life, brothels should be situated in areas where it is convenient for them to visit,” Murphy said.
Brothel owners will, however, be expected to register their business, furnishing a court with the names and addresses of owners, managers and shareholders, the location of the business, operating hours and other necessary information.
The draft Bill allows for advertising prostitution services, provided the adverts are reasonable and not patently offensive. Advertising will be restricted to the print media and “contact magazines”.
Murphy stressed that the draft Bill, which drew generously from the experiences of Australia, was still in its infancy stages.
“Our mandate from the Department of Health was to look into the viability of the laws which place a blanket prohibition on the sex workers’ industry and whether it could be replaced with alternative legislation,” he
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