To Protect Women Against Violence, South Africa Will Legalize Sex Work

South Africa has revealed plans to decriminalize sex work in the country as a possible means of tackling the high levels of crime against women.

The country’s Justice Ministry has put forward a proposed legislation under which the sale and purchase of sex work will no longer be seen as a crime in the country which, according to advocacy groups, has more than 150,000 sex workers.

In a press briefing, the South African Justice Minister, Ronald Lamola, said he hoped the new law would reduce human rights violations and provide better protection for sex workers.

“It is hoped that decriminalisation will minimise human rights violations against sex workers.

“It would also mean better access to health care and … afford better protection for sex workers, better working conditions and less discrimination and stigma,” he said.

The bill only deals with decriminalizing sex work, and does not regulate the sex industry however, the Minister said regulation would come at a later stage.

The Parliament will then approve the proposed legislation for it to become law, a procedure which could take a few months.

“With sex workers no longer labelled as criminals, they can work much better with the police to tackle violence,” sex worker rights’ group SWEAT wrote on Facebook, welcoming the bill as “incredible news”.

Prior to the announcement of the bill, on Thursday about 200 sex workers had gathered to dialogue with the country’s Deputy Minister for Social Development, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, to discuss the government’s plan to decriminalize sex work.

There, they told the Minister how the criminalization had left them open to abuse by the police who would allegedly rape, rob and harass them.

A female sex worker, who identified herself as Linda, said she had been raped several times by police officers after being arrested.

Another sex worker, a male who identified himself as Xolani, said he was arrested while soliciting a client. The police then searched him and “because they found me with condoms”, locked him in the back of the van. He said they patrolled the whole night with him in the van and then dumped him “in the middle of nowhere”.

Xolani also accused police of deliberately locking up arrested gay sex workers with other males in the holding cells, knowing that they will be gang raped.

Bogopane-Zulu told the sex workers that the department would also be lobbying for the expunging of criminal records for sex work.

South Africa has one of the highest HIV caseloads in the world and has recently been experiencing a rising wave of violence against women.

The Police Minister, Bheki Cele, said there had been a steady increase in murders of women year-on-year between the months of July and September where nearly 1,000 women have been killed.

Some recent gruesome incidents have shocked the nation, including the retrieval of half a dozen bodies, some believed to be missing sex workers, at a building in Johannesburg in October.