SWAZI POLICE RAPE SEX WORKERS

The abuse and rape of sex workers in Swaziland at the hands of police is a growing and widespread problem.

Prostitution is still illegal in the kindom, yet sex workers have reported targeted campaigns of rape and violence at the hands of Swazi police.

One well known investigator is notorious to sex workers in the capital, Mbabane.

‘He attacks us at our hotspot,’ said one 20-year-old sex worker. ‘He threatens us with a gun so that we do not run away. He then rapes us, after he is done, he lets his boys rape us while he watches, and we cannot report this to the police.’

The following article is distributed by Gender Links (Johannesburg), South Africa.

The Deadly Link Between Police, Sex Work And HIV

Alec Lushaba

SOURCE

7 December 2010

Mbabane, Swaziland — In a country known for its skyrocketing HIV and AIDS rates, conservatism, Christianity and traditional mores, it may come as a surprise that the abuse and rape of sex workers in Swaziland at the hands of police is a growing and widespread problem.

Sex work, known as one of the oldest trades, is still illegal in the country, yet sex workers have reported targeted campaigns of rape and violence at the hands of Swazi police.

One well known investigator is notorious to sex workers in the capital, Mbabane.

"He attacks us at our hotspot," said Phumzile Mamba*, a 20-year-old sex worker. "He threatens us with a gun so that we do not run away. He then rapes us, after he is done, he lets his boys rape us while he watches, and we cannot report this to the police."

Sex work in Swaziland is not confined to urban areas, but also common in rural areas, where patterns of abuse are often less evident.

A recent report by Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAAGA), in partnership with other local organisations, noted: "It is not just that they are arrested, to a greater or lesser degree they are forced by police to comply with demands for free sex or sex in exchange for not being arrested.

27% of the sex workers have at some point been arrested by state police for loitering. 60% of those arrested end up being sexually and physically abused by the police."

The study involved 150 sex workers, both female and male, from urban and rural communities.

In an attempt to intensify the fight against HIV and AIDS, several local organisations, including SWAAGA, have called for the decriminalisation of sex work in the country. They argue that the decriminalisation of sex work would enable their organisations and other partners to reach those involved in the illegal trade.

The National Strategic Framework for HIV and AIDS (NFS) identifies commercial sex as one of the key drivers of HIV and AIDS in Swaziland.

"Sex work is often characterised by high rates of partner change, low rates of condom use, unsafe sex and high rates of sexually transmitted infections.

Consequently, HIV infection is often high and the virus can quickly spread through sexual networks encompassing sex workers, clients, regular partners and associated lovers," states one NFS report.

Over the past several years, Swaziland has recorded one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. Data from the country's 11th National Sero-Surveillance Report indicates that HIV prevalence increased from 39 to 42% between 2006 and 2008.

The Swaziland Demographic and Health Survey estimated the prevalence among the population between 15-49 years to be at 26%. This means that for every four Swazis in the reproductive age, one is HIV positive.

In such a climate, sex workers have become a vital link in HIV prevention in the country.

Another recent study, the 2010 United Nations Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS (UNGASS) found that Swaziland's sex workers are being pressured by clients not to use condoms. These clients often pay more money, something sex workers may find hard to turn down.

Sex workers are put at greater risk of contracting HIV, and the client then likely goes home to a wife, who is also put at risk.

Many times that "client" is a police officer.

Because sex work is criminalised, law enforcers often overlook that sex workers can be victims of crime, and street-based workers in particular experience high levels of assault and rape.

Yet Police Public Relations Officer Superintendent Wendy Hleta said the police have no knowledge of sex workers in the country because their trade is illegal.

However, she said in cases where they have been abused or violated by police or individuals, such cases should be reported.

"We have competent officers, both female and male, who can listen to their concerns even when it means being heard in private. We encourage them to come forward and report such violations," she said.

However, because their trade is illegal, sex workers rarely avail themselves of such services.

Zanale Dlamini*, a sex worker from Ezulwini said: "Even if I have a simple cold I don't go to Lobamba Clinic, everybody knows that I am a sex worker.

Although the nurses don't voice it directly at you, they act funny and make silly comments about you."

Poverty and unemployment remain the major forces pushing young Swazis into sex work.

Xoliswa Sithole*, a 24-year-old sex worker from Gundvwini said: "I looked for a job at the textile factories for five months and I got tired of "facing" (waiting outside the factory gates before being employed) there. My friends suggested that we try selling sex at Matsapha. At first I was afraid but I have now learnt the trade. I have a room at Matsapha and go home on weekends. At least I can afford food and pay for my children's school fees.

My family thinks I am working at the textile factories."

Until sex work is recognised and decriminalised in the country, desperate Swazi mothers like Sithole will continue to be raped and abused at the hands of police and other violent men. And as long as this happens the HIV prevalence rate for the entire country will only continue to rise.

Alec Lushaba is the editor of the Swazi Observer. This article is part of a special series on the 16 Days of Activism for the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that offers fresh views on everyday news. For more information on the 16 Days Campaign go to www.genderlinks.org.za

ROUGH JUSTICE FOR SEX WORKERS

How about this for rough justice in Swaziland.

Three Swazi soldiers refused to pay two sex workers for the service they had provided to them so the girls stole their cell phones.

The soldiers reported the theft to the Mbhuleni community police who promptly went and beat the living daylights out of the girls who then confessed to stealing the phones.

When reporters from the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent newspaper, visited the area they found the girls bleeding. One was so badly injured she was lying helplessly on the ground.

And what happened to the soldiers who refused to pay for the services they had received? Nothing at all.

The sex workers also said that soldiers were their regular customers, but they always give them a tough time when it’s time to pay.

One of them disclosed that some of the soldiers who are their customers always resort to violence when the time to pay comes.

SWAZI POOR FORCED INTO SEX TRADE

Women textile workers in Swaziland are so exploited by their bosses that they have to turn to prostitution to survive.

Workers in a factory in Matsanjeni typically earn as little as E80 (10 US dollars) a fortnight and are sometimes paid weeks late.

High poverty levels among the populations of Lavumisa, Nsubane, Somntongo, Matsanjeni and Siphambanweni force young men into crime and girls into early prostitution.

Sibongile Maziya is one of several women who ‘emigrated’ from Siteki to Matsanjeni shortly after the garment factory closed shop in her town and another opened further south.

The Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, visited the remote Swaziland areas of Lavumisa, Nsubane, Somntongo, Matsanjeni and Siphambanweni and found high levels of poverty that forced young men into crime and girls into prostitution.

The newspaper told the story of one young woman who ‘emigrated’ from Siteki to Matsanjeni shortly after the garment factory closed shop in her town and another opened further south.

The Observer reports, ‘At first the wage payouts were regular and she could afford to pay rent and enjoy two meals a day. Things have changed for the worst. Last month alone they were paid two weeks late and very low wages of at most E80 for a fortnight.

‘The hamlet of Lavumisa is relatively quiet during the day but there are pockets of life at weekends with a few watering holes and a colonial hotel a few metres from the border showing some sparks of nightlife.

‘But you must come in the evening or even on a working day when truckers make a stopover before crossing the border out of Swaziland or from South Africa. The local young girls and some of the day shift Matsanjeni textile workers jostle for the truck drivers for a quick round of sex at very competitive fees, at times as low as E10.’

This is not an isolated incident as women textile works have previously revealed they have to work as prostitutes to get enough to afford food.

It was also reported in July 2008 that bosses at textile factories were demanding sex from women in return for jobs.

In March 2008 it was revealed that textile workers in Matsapha were so poorly paid that some were close to starvation.

SWAZI SOLDIERS ATTACK CIVILIANS

Swazi soldiers have taken it upon themselves to become guardians of law and order in Swaziland.

They have been trying to stamp pout prostitution in Manzini, Swaziland’s second city.

Despite the fact that soldiers are among prostitutes’ best clients, a group of armed soldiers have been harassing ‘working girls’ on the streets.

In one case six sex workers were rounded up and physically and sexually abused by soldiers. One of their male clients was forced to perform a degrading sex act for the amusement of the soldiers.

An official army spokesman refused to comment on whether the action of the soldiers was a legitimate use of the military.

The Times Sunday reported yesterday (9 November 2008) that three prostitutes had gone to a regular spot on the Manzini streets excepting trade one night when an army car parked near them.

One of the women takes up the story, ‘Some of the girls we found there took off when the car pulled up. One soldier ordered all three of us to jump into the back of the car. He emphasised that we should bring condoms.’

The Times Sunday reported, ‘The three ladies were under the impression that the soldiers were just being aggressive, which is a characteristic of their job. They actually thought they would be taken to a private spot or their (soldiers) quarters to carry out business.

‘However, that was not to be so.’

The soldiers drove the women to a popular pub where they demanded that they identify other commercial sex workers, which they did. The soldiers then drove six of the prostitutes to Trelawny Park. Along the way they picked up one of their regular male clients.

At the park the soldiers ordered them all out of the car where they kicked and abused the women. The soldiers said the women were ‘paying for selling our bodies to willing customers’.

The women were then ordered to lower their pants and demonstrate to the soldiers how they entertain men. The man was forced to dig a hole and the soldiers ‘ordered him to insert his manhood, and pretend he was with a woman’.

The soldiers then beat the women with sticks and shrubs.

When questioned by the Times Sunday, Army spokesman Major Dumsani Masuku said ‘he did not have enough time to consult’.

However, the newspaper reported, some soldiers have been deployed to public facilities that in Swaziland that are considered susceptible to terrorist attacks. Masuku was non-committal with regards to their role in other crimes such as prostitution, and the appropriate course of action in the event they come across other forms of crime.

It is hard to see what the Army spokesperson’s problem is here. Clearly, it is not the job of the Army to ‘police’ the streets of Swaziland. The soldiers were acting illegally and should themselves be subjected to the law. We could start with charging them with abduction and sexual assault.

Meanwhile, we need a clear statement from Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini that the Army has no place in policing Swaziland. The Army’s job is to protect Swaziland against external enemies. Soldiers should not be unleashed on the general public to ‘clean up the streets’.

I doubt that such a statement will be forthcoming from Dlamini. He is himself an illegally-appointed Prime Minister and the last time he was in office from 1996 to 2003, he unleashed a reign of terror against the Swazi people and showed a complete disregard for the rule of law in Swaziland.

See also

BARNABAS DLAMINI