Mathatisi Sebusi
Seven years ago, 23 years old Mpho* from Ha Thamae in Maseru ran away from home after having a fallout with her mother. She joined the streets where she met friends who introduced her to drugs and sex work.
She was only 16 years old and there was no job for her to address her personal needs and feed her dagga addiction. Sex work was her only option.
Seven years down the line, she is still a sex worker and does not plan to retire any time soon as she states that sex work ensures that she goes to bed fed, and her personal needs are met.
However, the sad part is that for the years she has been on the streets of Maseru selling sex, she has been experiencing physical and sexual abuse from her customers who at times refuse to pay for the services she would have rendered. Some of these customers are police officers who are mostly deployed to the streets for night patrols.
But the abuse has not stopped her from doing what puts food on her table.
The saddest part is that Mpho* contracted HIV and fell pregnant with a child whose father she does not know.
Speaking to the Lesotho Times this week, she said sex workers were scared to report any kind of abuse especially rape because, perpetrators include police officers who instead threaten to arrest them. She says in the few instances that they report the abuse, nothing is done in the way of investigations.
Mpho* said as a result, men abuse them although there are still many “good customers” who pay well for services rendered.
“I have been reporting the abuse to the police but no help has been rendered to me as a result. I am always dismissed and labelled “koena” (derogatory term for a prostitute) whenever I needed legal intervention,” she said.
At 23 years old, Mpho* believes that her financial breakthrough will only come from pursuing sex work. She says on a good day, she makes around M450 per night.
She says her prices are quoted on the basis of using protection or not.
“Clients pay more for unprotected sex. It is however the sex worker’s decision whether they take the offer or not,” she says.
Mpho* says most of her colleagues are financially stable from selling sex and if only they can be given protection from their abusers, their financial fortunes would improve.
She and her colleagues plead with the government to legalise sex work and allocate them formal establishments where they can operate from. She says legalisation of sex work will save them trouble of having to endure sexual abuse from their prospective clients.
Sex work is illegal in Lesotho. Section 55 of the Penal Code Act 2010, criminalises prostitution.
This legislation has been identified as one of the chief reasons why sex workers in Lesotho endure physical and sexual abuse from their clients and the country’s police officers.
Section 55(2) of Penal Code Act 2010 reads: “A person who incites, instigates or engages or procures another to engage, either in Lesotho or elsewhere in prostitution, commits an offence”.
Section 55(1) explains prostitution as a person who engages in sexual activity for payment.
While 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”.
Organisations advocating for the rights of sex workers call for the nullification of this legislation stating that because of it, sex workers suffer in silence and do not report abuse for fear of being charged.
Key Affected Populations Alliance of Lesotho (KAPAL) executive director, Lepheana Mosooane, says the legislation does not protect the rights of sex workers instead it encourages physical and sexual abuse of sex workers, hence a need for its cancellation.
KAPAL advocates for the human rights and health rights of sex workers in Lesotho. It aims to build a sustainable movement that fights for legalisation of sex work while also advocating for the rights of key populations through advocacy, capacity building, and empowerment.
Mr Mosooane said as much as they do all in their power to teach sex workers about their rights including Sexual Health Rights Services, more sex workers are still being abused and infected with HIV.
He said the country’s culture and Christian values were among the roadblocks derailing government from enacting laws which will legalise sex work and protect the rights of sex workers.
Mr Mosooane says what was even more worrisome about abuse of sex workers was that the law rarely took its course when incidents were reported mostly due to, among other things, lack of evidence.
“Witnesses of rape and other kind of abuse do not come forward for fear of being a target of the perpetrators. Some time even victims do not report abuse owing to the ‘unfriendly’ way they say police officers interrogate them which they see as demeaning and embarrassing,” he said.
Mr Mosooane said the issue of sex work being illegal in the country also intimidates sex workers and restricts them from answering questions truthfully for fear of incriminating themselves.
“Sometimes police intimidate them …..and instead demand sexual favours themselves instead of doing their work,” he said.
Mr Mosooane further notes that apart from discriminatory practices that have been reported to his organisation by the sex workers, it has also come to their attention that most times perpetrators of abuses are dangerous criminals. So cases go unresolved because of the fear of witnesses being targeted by these dangerous criminals.
He says his office has numerous reports of sexual and physical abuse of sex workers not being well handled by the police who instead demand sex from the victims.
His association has tried to intervene on behalf of the sex workers.
It has been told that sex workers should report rape cases straight to the child and gender protection unit (CGPU) which employs police officers who are well-trained to handle rape and sex abuse cases. No new cases have been reported to the CGPU nonetheless.
“We are sensitising people to understand that crime is a crime and should be treated as such without looking into the kind of work one does….,” he says.
Police public relations officer, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, tells the Lesotho Times that issues of discrimination and abuse of sex workers by police officers had been reported to his office “a long time ago”. He said they had engaged Mr Mosooane’s KAPAL and the discrimination and abused had since stopped.
He advised all victims of sexual abuse to demand to see the commissioner of the police station where a case was reported if nothing is done to probe it. They could also report abusive police officers directly to his office and he would help ensure appropriate action was taken against the culprits.
As much as sex work is illegal in the country, there have not been any arrests of people engaging in transactional sex.
“For us to make arrests, we need evidence that a sex worker charged a client to engage in sex with them; evidence which is hard to get,” he said.
A UNAIDS fact sheet on HIV and sex work (2021) states that in 2019 approximately eight percent of new adult HIV infections globally were among sex workers of all genders.
It reads that intersecting forms of structural and societal stigma and discrimination, including punitive laws, policies and practices, create significant inequalities and prevent sex workers from being able to protect their health, safety and well-being
“Criminal laws, law enforcement practices, stigma and discrimination increase risks of violence for sex workers such that 45 percent to75 percent of adult female sex workers are assaulted or abused at least once in their lifetimes,” reads the fact sheet.
As for 23 year old Mpho* , and many other young women whose livelihoods depend on selling their bodies, it seems its’s still a long way to go before their rights as human beings are observed and protected. In the meanwhile, they have no option but to continue prowling the streets of Maseru in search of clients.
