Plans are being made, according to Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, deputy minister of social development, to decriminalize sex work by 2024.
Two states preview diverging paths on future of prostitution and sex work
Many sex workers in the Northern Cape claim that the prolonged criminalization of their profession puts lives in danger and violates their right to a living.
The continued conversations with sex workers, according to Zulu. On Wednesday in Kimberley, she spoke to sex workers and several civil society organizations.
The Bill should be presented to Cabinet later this year or early next year, and as part of our discussions with sex workers, we are including their feedback into the draft Bill. After that, the Bill will be made available for public review.
“And then, when it returns in 90 days, we will condense and give it back to Parliament,” Zulu continues. According to the schedule, decriminalization must have taken place by March 2024.
Northern Cape sex workers said they want the decriminalization of sex work to happen quickly. Many people in Kimberley and the neighboring areas claim that their jobs are difficult and that their aggressive clientele mistreat them physically and financially.
According to them, police secondary victimization is also on the rise. “The majority of them, though not all of them, treat us horribly. You just believe that when you go to the authorities for assistance after being physically assaulted by a customer who won’t pay you, you will find that they will reject you, intimidate you, treat you unfairly, and otherwise treat you extremely badly. You are reluctant to seek assistance from the SAPS (police) at the end of the day.