The religious community in Botswana has certainly made its opinion well heard on the whole idea of legalizing prostitution. They are entitled to whatever opinion they hold, but I am curious about the moral authority that they claim to possess in criticizing attempts to legalize prostitution.

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I could not careless either way, whether it is legalized or not. I believe that a sexual encounter between consenting adults is none of my business. Maybe consent in this case is debatable seeing as it is often argued that these ladies of the night are poor and as such lack options. I also accept that some dignity gets eroded by constantly changing partners. I also believe that prostitution as a form of fighting poverty is not sustainable. There are no safety nets for when they are older they cannot access credit etc.  This for me amounts to undignified work, it is an argument that can be made against prostitution but it can also be used to support it. In short I can hold my own on both sides of the debate. I am that ambivalent on the issue.

We are told Prostitution is not necessarily illegal in Botswana and that ‘pimping’ is actually what is illegal. That though is not the issue I want to explore. My issue is the position taken by religious groups, especially New Age Christian churches. They have certainly made their opinions known, throwing around all sorts of talk about fire and brimstone hell coming to earth and that sort of thing. They have talked of breakdown in the moral fiber of society. And therein lies my problem with them. The phrase moral fiber leaves me very confused. I do not know what it means if we were to unpack it. It is one of those expressions people always use when they have no credible point to make. And indeed in this case I feel the religious people who are hell bent on opposing prostitution get it wrong. I strongly believe they lack the moral authority to be judgmental about this. Not only because it is actually a sin according to the very scriptures they quote, but because they cannot show us evidence of anything on the ground they are doing to deal with problems around prostitution. Churches rake in bags full of money week in week out, get all sorts of donations, questionable and otherwise yet you will be hard pressed  to find a single comprehensive project aimed at either rehabilitating prostitutes, poverty alleviation or even in dealing with the education on HIV/AIDS. They are arm-chair critics who from the comfort of their pulpits pass moral judgment on people trying to survive on a day to day basis. They are commenting on an issue they are not disposed to comment on.

 

Whether organizations like  Nka ikela which helps rehabilitate prostitutes or groups like BONELA which advocate for ‘legalization’ of prostitution are wrong or not is immaterial. What matters is that Churches cannot show a single activity they are involved in to deal with the social malady. It is on that basis that I maintain that they have no place in this debate until they make themselves relevant. Their representatives look overly important sitting next to ministers and former presidents discussing issues they know nothing about. Their contribution restricted to personal opinions masquerading as established facts. The people who are being discussed are not even acknowledged let alone represented; they are bashed mercilessly by the very people who need to be compassionate towards them. Churches need to introspect, reassess their position in society but more importantly, they need to know that silence is bliss especially on issues you are doing nothing to help prevent. The problem of prostitution does not need prayers and platitudes! It needs planning, proper planning backed by a comprehensive research on the real issues behind it not personal opinions backed by Bible thumping!

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