IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE
Issue 2
Izwi Lethu: Our Voice
April 2015 A NEWSLETTER BY SEX WORKERS FOR SEX WORKERS
Editor’s Note by Tanaka, Editor-in-Chief
Sisonke Sex Workers Movement and the African Centre for Migration & Society would like to express our sincere gratitude to you all who have received the first issue of our newsletter positively and gave encouraging feedback. Thank you for the support! In this second issue of Izwi Lethu: Our Voice, we are featuring pictures from the Sex at the #Spexxx Campaign that took place on April nd 2 in Cape Town. We as Sisonke and other partners attended The School for Creative Activism training from March 30th to April nd 2 . Once again thanks to The Open Society Foundation for making it possible. At the training we learned how creativity revolves around activism, from the vision to execution until achievement of goals. On the final day of training we were tasked to design and execute a decriminalisation of sex work campaign in 24 hours. What came to mind was the "Perceiving Freedom" sunglasses sculpture at the Seapoint looking to Robben Island. These glasses commemorate the late President Nelson Mandela's values of freedom and equality, yet about a kilometre in the opposite direction of the focus of the glasses, 7 male sex workers and 2 clients were brutally murdered in 2003 (Sizzler's House Massacre).
IN THIS ISSUE
Photos from Sex at the #Spexxx I vividly remember back in the year 2003 when the Sizzler’s House massacre took place, my father and I were watching a documentary on the brutality. Before my dad had realized that these men were gay, he was completely sympathetic. His sympathy then switched to scorn after he realized that the victims were not heterosexual. He frowned and said, “Oh, they were faggots! Serves them right.” At that time I was still in the closet about my sexuality, not to mention I was too young to even talk about sex. I can imagine now that my father is aware of my sexuality, if he could recall his comments on the Sizzler’s House Massacre I am sure he would really want to swallow his words. Twelve years after the massacre, I am in South Africa, at the Sizzler’s house, campaigning for the decriminalisation of sex work, fuelled by what transpired here. As Activists, we created a spectacle at the spectacles, encouraging passers-by to interact with sex workers and letting them ask questions where they needed clarity. We took selfies and tweeted to government officials demanding the decriminalisation of sex work. Pictures taken are available on the following hashtags #spexxx and #decrimsexwork. Until next month! Yours Truly,Tanaka
Featured in this issue are photos of the April demonstration for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa. Read Tanaka’s full story on MoVE’s blog: methodsvisualexplore.tumblr.com. And follow MoVE on Twitter (@MoVESAfrica) for more photos from the day.
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE | Issue 2
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Clients in my Soccer Team by Heineken, Feature Writer
I am an openly gay guy who plays soccer. Yes! I know it sounds weird to others, but it is true. I grew up playing it, and everyone can see that I’m gay. It was in the year 2010 when the first guy in my current team approached me. He told me straight to the face that he would like to f#@&* me. I laughed and told him that I could only sell it to him. He agreed. We started by going to my house everytime after we had a gym session, he would come to my house to have a sex session and then he paid me and left. He then became a regular client of mine since that day. One day another teammate came to me when we were at the camp. He asked me if I could give him a blowjob. He was asking infront of everybody during our breakfast in the kitchen. His aim was to make a joke out of it yet he meant it at the same time. So everybody laughed and laughed. That night, we met in the bathrooms, and he told me he was being serious about what he had said to me earlier. I then approved it and told him that I was going to sell it to him and he agreed. We then got to it, and he paid me. He then also became my client since that day until today. Well, as the time went by, I had almost everyone in my team as my client, including our coach, though they all do not know about each other. We do business after the matches or at the camps. I sometimes get clients from the other soccer teams we meet. I think I’m more approachable because I am not in the
Photo by Heineken
closet, and I’m sexy of course. If there’s one thing I love about my teammates it’s that they are not judgmental, and I really appreciate that. So since I am a semi-professional soccer player, I decided to go ask a professional South African soccer player about this. Interviewer: How do you feel about gay guys? Jersey no.11: I don’t judge anyone in life and I don’t mind chilling with them but I am a straight guy. Interviewer: Do you know of anyone who is gay in the South African football association? Jersey no.11: Nope…not that I know of. Interviewer: What do you usually do when you are in a camp and you feel like having sex? Jersey no.11: (laughs) we buy some female sex workers, depending where we will be at though. And it is not that often.
Heineken: If one of your guy teammates would sell sex to you, would you buy? Jersey no.11: (laughing out loud) well ,there is a saying that goes like “never say never” but me I would buy only if that’s a girl (laughs). From my experience, many guys who play soccer are not homophobic, and they are bisexual. But when you’re a soccer player you don’t want to let your team know that you are bisexual because of ignorance. Peer pressure can also take over people’s minds at times. There are a lot of gay guys out there as well but it’s just that they are in the closet. I don’t blame them because our backgrounds are not the same. Buying sex from sex workers during soccer camps is an “in thing” and I am sure it isn’t gender or sexuality based. It’s just out there and natural to soccer players because they can afford it. Know who you are and what you want in life. Do not judge. Live your life and take care!!!
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE
Issue 2
Working in Namibia by Chidhavazo, Feature Writer
In 2007 I heard about Namibia, and I decided to go there to do sex work. I went there alone, and I met new friends from Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. My fellow Zimbabweans helped me to look for accommodation. I was renting a house together with them, but the rent was better than at a hotel in Johannesburg because we were paying monthly not every day like hotels. Since sex work is illegal, it was hard because we worked in the streets and the police were always after us. But there was money. We used to meet different people from overseas but most of them were drug dealers. We called them mutoriro. Because we wanted money, we had no option. Anyone with money we made business with. Life in Namibia was good, but I decided to move to South Africa because of the strict police. Other sex workers were caught in the street and were imprisoned for one year in jail. I found it hard, that’s why I decided to move to South Africa. When I came here, it was also difficult to work in the streets. I then found a place at a hotel where we are paying rent every day. Since sex work is illegal, if we work in the streets police will arrest us, but since we have an organisation that represents us, Sisonke, we are working so well without fear of police. Now we know our rights and where to go if we have a problem with police. We even work hard, and we are taking good care of our families and able to save money. Working in South Africa is better than Namibia because here even if you get arrested at least we have an organisation that can help us.
From the Street to the Kitchen by Clara, Feature Writer
by Tanaka,
After witnessing other sex workers under the influence of drugs stealing from clients and clients coming back for revenge, stabbing sex workers in front of my face, I decided not to wait for a wellwisher who will help me with a caravan to use as a mobile kitchen. I decided to do it myself.
Editor-inChief
While at work in the bar where I do business I used to admire the lady who used to sell food in the bar. When she left the bar for a better place, it was the only chance that I had. I talked to the owner of the bar, Macdonald, to let me use the place as a kitchen, and he agreed. I opened my kitchen in December, little did I know that people would go home for the festive season. With the help of my friend Chantel and other girls, kitchen business went well for the first two weeks, but things got bad when these ladies left for Plastic View. Things got worse when those few ladies left in the bar were chased out because they took drugs inside the bar, which gave a bad picture to the bar. Those who had gone for festive season came back with no money. All the money was
finished during the holiday. Despite the fact that people were not buying food, the owner advised me to cook everyday so that people would get used to the good food that I cook. He also advised me to give them food on credit, but that did not help because when it was month end and it was time to pay rent, I would not see even one from those who owed me money for food. One lady also told me that I started my business the wrong month. During the festive season, people go home for Christmas and when they come back they do not have money. So I should have started in March. With the money that I had raised from sex working I thought I was going to make it big in the food industry, but that was the end of my kitchen. If I had someone to help me, I was going to make it big. I will try again, and this time I know what to do and when to start.
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE | Issue 2
4 sexual exploitation of minors, and we should do all we can to ensure that they get the help that they need.
Ask Dear Mastoep by Dear Mastoep
Regards, Mastoep
Dear Mastoep, I was raped by a client in 2010 during world cup. It was from Spain. I still get back flashes about what happened.
Dear MaStoep, I work as at a restaurant and am a sex worker again outside but I want to know do I have to like or love being a sex worker coz most of times my instinct always makes me feel bad about my other sex working job. Dear Normal Worker, The reality is that many people don’t like their jobs but we do it because we need to make ends meet while we search for our dream jobs. If you don’t like doing sex work you need to ask what you don’t like about it and see if you can work differently, but if you don’t like it to the point that you are putting yourself in danger then maybe it is time to take a break or quit. If you are making enough from the restaurant job to survive maybe you should take time off to think about what you want to do and other ways to make the money you used to make from sex work. But also remember that some of the feelings you have could be because people don’t regard sex work as work and you are therefore not able to speak to some of your close friends and family about your work. So maybe joining Sisonke and attending activities regularly with people who are doing sex work could also be useful for you. Regards, Mastoep
Dear Mastoep, I am a sex worker and I want to ask about the police because I make business and cops arrest us and beat us. So I don’t know want to do. Dear Sex Worker, In South Africa all aspects of sex work are regarded as a crime. So if the police catch you doing business they can charge you. But what you are saying, and because I am assuming you are not in jail, is what the police do to target sex workers. They know that at the end of the night you have had some business and they arrest you, want a bribe or want free sex from you. What you can do is the next time you are arrested call Women’s Legal Centre or Sisonke, and if you can stay in the cells and wait for them to come. Otherwise if you can’t and you sign the admission of guilty fine then keep it and come with it to Women’s Legal Centre and they will advise you. But please remember that each time you sign the papers that they give you are agreeing to the charge on the sheet. So keep them so that they can be challenged if possible.
My Dear, This is very sad to hear that you were raped but that also you have been carrying that trauma since 2010. What I would advise is that you speak to someone so that you can start to deal with that trauma. If you feel comfortable enough you can contact any of the following the SWEAT or Sisonke Gauteng office on 011 403 4267 and someone will assist you. Otherwise you can contact organisations like POWA, Lifeline, a social worker at a clinic or hospital or someone from the trauma room at a police station and they can refer you. There are many people out there who can assist you and I would recommend that you get assistance so that you can start to deal with what happened to you in 2010. Regards, Mastoep
c
Regards, Mastoep
Dear Mastoep, What is the right age to be a sex worker? Dear Age Questioning, The right age to be a sex worker as we treat sex work as any other work is the legal age to work in South Africa. The age of maturity in South Africa is 18 years. If anyone under that age is involved in the sex industry that is the
Photo by Linda
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE | Issue 2
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How I Got into Sex Work Business by Linda, Contributing Editor
I came to Johannesburg to work as a hairdresser, so when I arrived here I thought I was going to find a job that will pay me good money so that I can send back home to my kids. The second week after my arrival, I found a job at a salon and my salary was R1 200 per month. At first I was happy because I did not know that life was expensive in South Africa. I was staying with my uncle. When I found a job he told me that now you are working you can now find your own place to stay. That’s when problems started. I looked around for a place to stay but all places were very expensive. I told my work mates that I was looking for a place to stay, and they told me another lady was looking for someone to share a room with and the room was R1 8OO. We had to share R900 per person every month. With my salary of R1 200 the rent was too much for me. One day on my way to work, I met my classmate from high school, and we exchanged our phone numbers. We talked on the phone, and I told her my problem. She told me that money on her side was not a problem, and she was going to introduce me to the kind of business that she was doing. At first I did not know that she was talking about sex work business until she explained it to me. She told me everything about this job, and the following day she took me to a street in Rosebank. When we arrived there, she told me to change my clothes and wear a very tiny skirt. I was so embarrassed and shy at the same time. There were a lot of customers that day so we started working. In the early hours of the morning, we went home. I was now staying with that lady. After two weeks of working, I saw that there was money in this business, and I was able to send money to my kids at home and rent a place of my own. That friend of mine taught me to use condoms, but she was a greedy person. She wanted more money than she was getting so she
started charging more money to the clients for having sex without a condom. Unfortunately after two years she was so sick with HIV, and she passed away. This is how I got into this sex work business, but now I’m tired. I need to leave this business and do something else with my life.
Sex Work Online by Heineken, Feature Writer
Hi there, my name is Heineken, and I stay in a very busy township around Johannesburg. I live at my dad’s home in an outside private room of my own. I am a very social guy. I like to flirt, and I visit so many naughty internet sites. I am also an online chat model. It is where I get to video chat with members (clients) when I am actualy selling sex to them. To start chat hosting/modelling, you definitely need to have a computer and a camera with the internet connected. Then you will have to go register and create an account at that particular site. After you have been approved, then you can create your profile. You tell the members what you can do for them and
also take a lot of teasing pics that you upload to your profile. I log in with my computer when I am alone at home in my room, dressed in anything comfortable. I set my cam, and I am ready to stream. I then start to chat with the members on free chats, trying to convince them to come in the private chat. Once the member is private, then he starts paying. I always smile because they can see me through their video chats. I sometimes tease them by taking off my trousers and showing them my beautiful sexy body and butt. The whole aim when you are working online is to keep your members for long when they are in private rooms so that they can pay more and more. When you’re online, you should expect a private session at anytime because some paying members don’t go on free chats. When the client goes private with you, it automatically blocks the free chat guests, so only the paying members in private can see you during that time. I then immediately give my private member my full attention. I start by thanking him for buying time with me and for coming private. I then start to
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE | Issue 2 ask general questions, like where is he from, what is his age, etc., as far as he gives me a chance to, before he asks for a show. When I am in private, I do whatever the member is asking me to do because I want to satisfy him since he is paying for that session. But the strategy is to keep him/her for long.
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Drugs and Sex Work by Clara, Feature Writer
“Dayrose, what’s that you are taking?”
How Sisonke Helped My Friend by Chidhavazo, Feature Writer
“Drugs, my sister.” Everybody has his/her sex desires so I always get get different kinds everyday. Some of their desires are hard, some are soft, and some are just so cool. My regular members like Tony, he stays in the U.S., he always wants to see me sucking on a dildo (toy penis). He says that makes him horny, and he ejaculates by seeing me doing that. Others would want me to put it up my ass of course. I also have this other member who only wants me to dance for him. I eventually plug in the music and start to dance until he has had enough. But my favourite member is MasterQ. Wow, he only likes me to sit there and watch me sitting, and then we start chatting. We will do that for something like an hour. He will not ask me to get naked. Most of them would want you to get naked for them and show your sexy body. Others they have their own cams too, and you can actualy see them as well. You just have to expect anything when you are a chat host (online sex worker). I love working online with all of my heart because you actualy are alone in a room. You are with your computer. I find it so much safer and more fun and better paying because the sites pay you in dollars. That is called ONLINE SEX
I asked if she could give me some to taste, but she advised me not to try. That’s how she started. She wanted to quit but it was difficult for her. Sex workers are lured into drugs very easy. First day you are tasting and the next thing they are doing funny just because they do not want to get tired at work, and the next thing they are drug addicts. When you are a sex worker and an addict, you start stealing from clients, which is dangerous. Many girls are killed out there, and it’s happening every day. The same person you steal from, they come back for revenge they do it to the wrong person, an innocent soul. When I asked Dayrose if I could taste some of her drugs, she warned me against it. We must ask ourselves, why when you are holding a cigarette and want to smoke for the first time, a chain smoker standing next to you tells you never to smoke, when he is smoking. It is said do as I say not as I do. Listen to someone when that person is stopping you from drugs.
Knowing the name Sisonke has helped my friends a lot. If it was not for Sisonke’s help, the man who raped my friend would not have been arrested. In June 2010, a client took my friend Coletta to his house and locked her in the house for one week. He returned my friend back to the hotel without paying her. She told us what had happened, where she was. She said the man who took her to his house slept with her without using condoms, and they had not agreed on that. She was not feeling well. Another sex worker took us to the organisation called Sisonke where my friend was helped. They took her to the police station to report the matter. After we reported him, the man was arrested, and he was charged with rape. My friend got sick and went to the clinic, where she tested positive for HIV. At the clinic where my friend went, there were workers of the Sisonke organisation, who helped her and counseled her about the rape and health and human rights. We started knowing that Sisonke is a movement of sex workers. It was formed in 2003 by a group of sex workers to help other sex workers.
Drugs lead to unprotected sex, which is unhealthy. So drugs lead to a gradual death.
I interviewed my friend, Coletta, about her experience. This is what she said.
Sisters stop drugs.
Chidhavazo: After what happened to you, do you still like your job as a sex worker?
WORKING.
Coletta: I don’t like my job anymore but since I am the breadwinner in my family I don’t have anything else better to do that can make me take good care of the family. Chidhavazo: How do you feel when we talk about rape? Photo by Linda
Colette: Embarrassed. Chidhavazo: What are your words to other sex workers?
Photo by Linda
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE | Issue 2 Coletta: As sex workers we have to be open to each other so that we can advise each other to any problems which we face. Chidhavazo: What can you say about Sisonke? Coletta: l would like to say Viva Sisonke Viva with the good job you are doing to all sex workers. It’s not only me you help. And let all sex workers know about this organisation Sisonke.
Guest Columnist by Teboho Mashota, Paralegal,
Women’s Legal Centre
7 WLC is an independent law centre that seeks to achieve equality for women in South Africa. As access to justice is largely inaccessible to poor women, particularly poor, black women, the WLC plays an important role in litigating in their interest and providing them with access to free legal advice. The WLC Johannesburg office is a new office that became fully operational in September 2014; the office focuses mainly on sex workers human rights violations. Many sex workers have reported that they get harassed by police officers. Some of the human rights violations that can happen as part of this harassment include: your rights as an arrested person might be violated; your rights can be violated by the conditions and treatment you experience in police cells; your right to appear in court may be violated.
This month’s guest columnist, Teboho Mashota, a paralegal at the Women’s Legal Centre in Johannesburg, wanted to share information about her organisation with Izwi Lethu readers:
In addition to our litigation work, we provided free legal advice to 1055 women from September 2013 to July 2014, on topics including: access, abuse, civil claims, criminal, custody, customary marriage, damages, debt, defamation, discrimination, divorce, domestic partnership, domestic violence, education, states, evictions, family law, general heath, HIV, housing / land, labour law, maintenance, Muslim person law, pension funds, queries from NGOs, refugees, sexual harassment, sex work, sexual offence.
The Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) is a non-profit, independently funded law centre, started by group of lawyers. The
The Sex Work Human Rights Defender Project is one of our groundbreaking projects. The project focuses on five
areas, which are to record human rights abuses, provide free legal advice, provide legal representation, conduct strategic impact litigation, and advocate for decriminalisation of sex work. The paralegals document human right abuses and train sex workers on their human rights in addition to working on bail applications for sex workers. Between May and December 2014 we assisted 94 sex workers, and from 2009 to 2014 WLC assisted a total of 179 sex workers. The WLC Johannesburg office number is (011) 339-1099. The WLC helpline number is (060) 377 4439.
HUMAN RIGHTS TIP
If you have been a victim of a crime and plan to open a case with the police, be sure to have as many details as possible. Be ready with information such as the exact time and place of the incident. If the perpetrator is a police officer, it is also good to have the name or a description of the officer and the police vehicle.
Masthead Editor-in-Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Linda Feature Writer: Heineken Feature Writer: Clara Feautre Writer: Chidhavazo Izwi Lethu is a collaboration between Sisonke and ACMS’s MoVE Project, funded by the Open Society Foundation
IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE
Issue 2
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Cartoon by Clara and Linda