… “it must thus be decriminalised”, say civic advocates
Mathatisi Sebusi
For the past five years, Lerato*, aged 39, has been working as a sex worker, sending home at least M1 000 every month. Her family thinks she is working in Maseru as a domestic worker.
Lerato says that she left her home, which she shares with her single mother, in Roma, Ha Mafefooane, and relocated to Maseru in search of work. She was struggling to financially support her two children who live with her mother. She had hoped to find a job in the textile industry. But once in Maseru, her efforts to secure employment proved futile. She was left with no option but to resort to the world’s oldest profession: prostitution.
The Lesotho Times caught up with Lerato on Saturday the 16th of December, during the commemoration of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers hosted by the Key Affected Populations Alliance of Lesotho (KAPAL). The day is celebrated globally every year on December 17. This year KAPAL celebrated it a day earlier on December 16.
The key objective of the event was to raise awareness about the prevailing violence against sex workers and to connect sex workers with communities as a strategy to try and change the attitudes of these communities towards sex work.
Sharing her journey into prostitution, Lerato said her failure to secure a job meant that her living situation worsened. She could not even pay rent, leading to her eviction. She said one of her friends whom she met at the Thetsane Industrial area took her in after she was evicted.
“I would wake up every morning to que for jobs at the factories. What surprised me was that while I was struggling, my friend lacked nothing. She was able to buy food, clothes, pay rent and even send money home every month,” Lerato said.
She said out of curiosity she asked her friend where she got all the money, to which she replied that she was a sex worker.
In light of her desperation, Lerato says she was left with no option but to emulate her friend. She joined her in the sex trade.
Five years down the line, Lerato says she has been at least able to provide the basics to her kids and elderly mother. She is proud that her elder son has just written his Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE), and preparing for varsity, while the youngest will be doing grade eight next year.
She says she has no regrets in choosing to do sex work instead of going back home empty handed. The work in the sex industry is not easy nonetheless, she says. She has to endure a lot of abuse.
“My mother and my children believe that I work as a domestic worker here in Maseru. They do not know that I sell sex, and that I am exposed to everyday discrimination and abuse,” an emotional Lerato says.
She says in the five years she has been on the streets of Maseru, she has been subjected to physical and sexual abuse by clients who often refuse to pay after sleeping with her.
She repeated allegations that sex workers are routinely abused by the very same police who are supposed to protect them. Police officers on night patrols in Maseru, demand sex from prostitutes then assault and refuse to pay them for services rendered, she claims. She says she hasn’t been spared the ordeal. The police always tell her that her job is illegal and instead of arresting her and detaining her she must “open up” for them.
Lerato says she charges M70 per round of sex, going up as far as M500 for unprotected sex. Her average take-home “pay” a month is M5 000.
“Days differ, there are days that I make a lot of money. There are also those dry days that I make nothing …..,” she says.
Lerato is one of the lucky sex workers who were introduced to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). She says PrEP has thus far helped her to avoid contracting HIV, since she sometimes meets clients who shun protection.
“I never make a mistake of going out without taking my PrEP. It is the only thing that has kept me safe from HIV considering the kind of work I do,” Lerato said.
PrEP is a combination of medicines taken to prevent getting infected with HIV, recommended for key populations like sex workers and gays and lesbians. It is highly effective for preventing HIV when taken as prescribed though it does not completely exclude the possibility of contracting HIV.
Speaking at the event KAPAL executive director, Lepheane Mosooane, said there was need to decriminalise sex work to protect sex workers from the abuse they endure every day.
He said most sex workers operated in secret for fear of humiliation and discrimination. According to an Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance (IBBS) 2019 study, about 7500 people from Maseru, Leribe and Mafeteng districts had come out as sex workers.
“This number is very low. we have a lot of sex workers in the country. They are hiding because of abuse and discrimination they face every day. As a country we need to break the culture of silence on the issues of decriminalisation of sex work. A nation that goes silent on the issues of national interest dies a silent death,” Mr Moosoane said.
Mr Moosoane adds Lesotho’s dream to end AIDS by 2030 should begin with ending violence against sex workers.
He says sex work “is work like any other work”. The government should thus decriminalise it.
Section 55(1) of Penal Code Act 2010 describes prostitution as “when a person engages in sexual activity for payment”.
Section 55(2) reads: “A person who incites, instigates or engages or procures another to engage, either in Lesotho or elsewhere for prostitution, commits an offence”.
Section 55(4) reads: “A person who lives or habitually associates with a prostitute, in such a manner as to show aiding or compelling prostitution for commercial gain, commits an offence”.
Speaking at the same event, Police Constable Nthabeleng Hlalele, from the Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU), encouraged the sex workers to report abuse because “no human has a right to abuse another”.
She says all perpetrators of abuse should face the wrath of the law.
“The problem is that you do not report abuse. Report it so that we can be able to help you,” she told the gathering, which included sex workers.
She stated no children under 18 years were allowed to engage in sex business. She said who ever buys sex from a minor can be arrested and jailed for the act.
Despite efforts of sex workers like Lerato to use PrEP to protect themselves from diseases, HIV prevalence is still high among sex workers.
UNAIDS estimates the prevalence of HIV among sex workers in Lesotho – as a key population group – at 71.9 percent. Female sex workers from Leribe District are the hardest hit with a prevalence rate of 57 percent. Those from Butha-Buthe are the lowest affected with an HIV prevalence rate of 39 percent.
Lerato agrees that decriminalising sex work and allowing sex workers to openly access treatments like PrEP is the best way forward to control the prevalence of HIV among them. Decriminalising the trade would also empower prostitutes to openly report the rampant abuse they endure.
