Phikwe suffocating under volcanic sex trade

MQONDISI DUBE
Correspondent | Thursday November 20, 2008 00:00

As darkness slowly engulfs the area, the number of figures heading into town dwindles significantly. Actually, it is reduced to a trickle. However, some figures pace up and down the street. The motive is not clear as they slowly become a permanent feature on this road.

A closer look unmasks young female figures, their conversation hardly inspires hope. An approaching vehicle seemingly brings hope to the scantily dressed figures. To some who walk this 'innocent' road, it is just a passing vehicle, but to the desperate figures, the sound of a vehicle brings with it hope. This is probably where the next meal will come from.

The women who ply their trade on this street are hungry. Driven by a desire to escape grinding poverty, the young women are forced to give away their bodies. Commercial sex or prostitution is widely regarded as the world's oldest profession. Despite the advent of the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic, commercial sex continues to thrive the world over.

Selebi-Phikwe, a mining town, has not escaped the influx of commercial sex workers, probably due to the high number of male workers. The police station commander, superintendent Victor Nlebesi, says his officers usually arrest a high number of women for idling along the Boipuso South, which passes near Bosele Hotel.However, he said it is difficult to charge them with engaging in sex work as there is no evidence linking them to the offence. Prostitution remains illegal in Botswana.

'We always round up women loitering around Bosele Hotel and usually their explanations are vague. We charge them with idling or disorderliness but in most cases, the same faces return to the spot,' Nlebesi said. Women found loitering are fined between P50 and P100.Various role players in the HIV/AIDS fight are making concerted efforts to reach out to sex workers and truck drivers to encourage safe sex. Selebi-Phikwe District AIDS Coordinator, Lameck Myengwa said efforts to rehabilitate commercial sex workers are ongoing. Myengwa adds that it is a challenge to discourage prostitutes to leave their trade without offering viable alternative means of income.Symbolic of this, a bead project meant to take away commercial sex workers from the streets in the mining town failed to blossom as the women felt it did not generate sufficient income. The majority preferred to line the streets every evening waiting for clients. Myengwa said although statistics were not available, commercial sex work was prevalent in the mining town. He said the Men, Sex and AIDS sector reaches out to sex workers and truck drivers to encourage safe sex.Myengwa notes that it is difficult to reach out to sex workers as most of them operate after dark. He said despite challenges, the district AIDS office would continue with efforts to engage sex workers and truck drivers. Myengwa said to remove sex workers from the street, stakeholders should come up with an alternative source of income. In his view, the bead making project was not an attractive alternative. He added that their intention was not to make the women quit prostitution but to emphasise sex education.Myengwa said they have not encountered much hostility from the sex workers and drivers during their campaigns. He attributed the rise in sex work to unemployment and the fact that Selebi Phikwe was a hub for a number of surrounding villages including Mmadinare, Sefhope and Bobonong.'Selebi-Phikwe is a town where mostly men are employed. Unemployment among women might be fuelling prostitution. Most women come to Phikwe looking for employment and are forced to engage in other activities if they do not find jobs,' Myengwa opined.He said his office has borrowed a leaf from Francistown where sex workers are engaged in an incoming generating project, Matshelo. Myengwa said the project receives internal funding, and believes that Selebi-Phikwe needs a similar injection to come up with viable, attractive alternatives for sex workers.'If we can get a viable income generating project, then it might help redirect the lives of sex workers. We cannot just tell them to stop sex work without providing alternatives,' Myengwa said. Over the years, Selebi Phikwe has seen the arrival of sex workers from neighbouring countries.

Men, Sex and AIDS coordinator, Dikgang Keabetsweng said their organisation used to engage local sex workers but lately there has been an upsurge of foreign prostitutes. Keabetsweng said foreigners usually get condoms and they are educated on safe sex. He said local sex workers tend to disappear and new faces crop up persistently which thwarts their efforts. 'We train them as peer educators and engage them in income generating projects but they abandon these projects. We are forced to meet new faces every time,' Keabetsweng said. He said Men, Sex and AIDS has established contacts with two sex workers who act as a link to their counterparts. Keabetsweng notes that most of the sex workers cite poverty as the main reason for engaging in prostitution.

The majority of the sex workers stay in run-down Botshabelo, while some were retrenched when the textile firms closed down.

'There are some who are employed but they say they are not earning enough to fend for their families. They tell us that they have families to feed and are forced to engage in prostitution to raise income,' Keabetsweng said. He admits that although they have made inroads in contacting sex workers, financial constraints have foiled their operations.

The youthful coordinator said at times sex workers demand payment for time spent with officers from the Men, Sex and AIDS unit. As is the practice in their 'profession', time is of the essence for sex workers.

'To them time is money. When we spend time with them, they demand that they be paid. It is difficult but we are trying hard not to break our relationship with the sex workers,' Keabetsweng said.While efforts to educate sex workers are in progress, residents near the spot where prostitutes operate complain of their behaviour. The relatively tranquil section of Tshaba-ntsha near Bosele Hotel has to contend with an influx of sex workers particularly on month ends. 'We wake up to used condoms around our yards in the mornings. One day, you will find a kid holding a used condom and you know the health hazards,' said a resident.

The resident added that commercial sex workers are left to rule the streets with no action taken against them. She said usually the same faces are seen at the same spot ,particularly on weekends and at the end of the month.

The resident complained that their sleep is disturbed by the constant sound of vehicles picking up and dropping sex workers.