Britain is to give 42m condoms to South Africa in response to a request for an extra billion as part of an HIV prevention drive before the 2010 World Cup, the government will announce. The Guardian reports that the request for British help in stockpiling sufficient condoms for the expected influx of thousands of football supporters in three months’ time was made during President Jacob Zuma’s recent visit to the UK to meet the Queen.
Local pub owners are planning to cash in on the 2010 World Cup by busing football fans to their ’executive gentlemen’s club’ where sex is on the menu, notea a report on the IoL site. Lourens Opperman (45) and Louis Coetzee (40), own Castle Corner in Rustenburg in the North West Province where six matches will be played at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium and where the England squad will be based.
About 40 000 women are expected to arrive in South Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup to work as prostitutes, said the Central Drug Authority. CDA deputy chair David Bayever said: ’Forty thousand new prostitutes. As if we do not have enough people of our own, we have to import them to ensure our visitors are entertained.’ According to a report on the News24 site, Bayever said the agency had been warned by the Durban municipality of the possibility of huge inflows. Many of the women were likely to be recruited from eastern Europe.
As the countdown to the World Cup starts in earnest, Johannesburg’s ladies of the night say they are ready to welcome visitors to our shores. A Sowetan investigation started in the city centre – at the Diplomat Hotel on the corner of Klein and Bree streets. As I walked up the stairs at 8pm I felt my shoes stick to the floor. The tiles are dirty and there are beer bottles lying everywhere. But I am distracted by women in miniskirts, sitting to stairs with their legs open. They are not wearing underwear. I paid R7 at the door and was told a beer costs R15. The sex workers charge R50 for ’a round’ and the same for a blow job. Each room has two beds and a mattress and doubles up as a kitchen. The girls rent out the rooms, with at least five sharing a room. ’It will be business as usual for us during the World Cup,’ says one of them.
’There is nothing we can do against it’ - 01/03/2010
Does FIFA approve of Cape Town’s crackdown on sex workers ahead of the soccer World Cup? The Sunday Independent reports that the organisation’s general secretary Jerome Valcke did not seem too sure at a media briefing in the city. ’What can I answer?’ he said in response to a reporter’s question. ’Whatever I’m saying, I will say something wrong.’
The city’s metro police, at the urging of mayoral committee member for safety JP Smith, have for several months been regularly rounding up streetwalkers and raiding brothels. Valcke said however that this was not at FIFA’s request.
WC sex scars will take longer to heal - 27/02/2010
As the 2010 World Cup dates draws near, the energy in South Africa and the neighbouring countries is palpable. Millions of people will soon streaming to South Africa to watch one of the most coveted tournament in the football fraternity. But with this tournament and the excitement that comes with it, there will be tears and grief as well. The Swazi Observer reports that activists have raised a red flag, concerned about potential increase in sexual violence during the 2010 World Cup. For the many local and foreign women sex workers who will be present at the tournament, lack of protection will mean going back to their homes and countries with scars that will take years to heal.
In the eyes of many, 2010 is a year for Africa. The 2010 World Cup will be the first in history hosted on the continent. The Voice reports that from the time of the historic announcement of South Africa’s successful bid, many neighbouring countries have been working towards improving their infrastructure and making sure their citizens are ready to take advantage of the Cup’s economic opportunities. Sex workers have not lagged behind. However, this opportunity is likely to come with dangers of harassment, abuse and discrimination under the current legal framework in South Africa, which offers them little or no protection.
Condom supplies will be beefed up at the 2010 World Cup, which has more HIV cases than any other country, a top medical officer said. ’There’s going to be a large number of people who will be descending onto the country. There’s going to be a spirit of festivity and there could be a more than usual demand for measures such as condoms, so there are measures in place to ensure that the condom supply is going to be ramped up during this tournament,’ he said.
The ’footballers’ are not coming for sex - 22/02/2010
Asked by a journalist about South Africa’s high HIV/Aids infection rate, Fifa chief medical officer Prof Jiri Dvorak, said that the players are all very well-informed.
’They will be coming for the 2010 World Cup and not any other activities.’ Dvorak was part of a panel of Fifa medical experts at Sun City after an international football medicine conference. Fifa claimed ’encouraging results’ for its year-long programme in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, linking good health with soccer.
The 2010 World Cup presents a strategic opportunity for South Africa to respond to the challenges that the sex industry poses in a strategic and rights based manner. A Eurasia Review report notes that public health goals and growing evidence on HIV prevention suggest that sex work is best approached in a context where it is decriminalised and where sex workers are empowered. In short, the authors argue for a moratorium on the enforcement of laws that persecute and victimise sex workers during the 2010 World Cup period.
Food and alcohol will not be allowed at 2010 World Cup fan parks. But if you show up, you will get freebies – condoms and sex education leaflets – that will be handed out. The Sowetan reports that this is a part of the Gauteng department of health and social development’s massive safe sex campaign to coincide with the tournament. Department spokesperson Mandla Sidu said: ’The campaign will focus on educating people about safe sex and the role played by alcohol and drugs in the spread of HIV-Aids.’
Local soccer stars are to be used in a massive safe sex campaign launched by the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development for the 2010 World Cup, notes a report on the allAfrica.com site. The department is to approach the soccer stars and the South African Professional Football Union to get involved in a drive to reach as many people as possible about HIV and AIDS during the 2010 World Cup and beyond.
Fears of increased human trafficking during the 2010 World Cup have prompted the Salvation Army to launch a toll-free hotline aimed at helping people trafficked into the country, notes a report on the IoL site. ’We don’t want to create a hype around 2010 but we fear it (human trafficking]) will increase for purposes of commercial sex work,’ said Major Marike Venter, national co-ordinator of the Salvation Army anti trafficking task team. The number - 0800-RESCUE or 0800-737283 - is expected to operate 24 hours a day.
World Cup boosts Africa’s human trafficking - 15/01/2010
For the past five years, human traffickers have been using the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a ’bait’ to lure people to work in South Africa at construction sites and accommodation establishments, as escorts, stadium marshals and many more, a Bizcommunity.com investigation has found. ’This is an African World Cup and every African must somehow benefit from it,’ a human trafficker told Bizcommunity.com this week, requesting ’absolute’ anonymity. Since 2004, the year SA was chosen to organise the World Cup, human trafficking ’offices’ have been opened at various African countries, where unscrupulous people working as ’agents’ register desperate people dying to get to the ’final destination’ (SA) to seek any form of employment or business opportunities.
Condom arrangements for the World Cup - 13/01/2010
The Department of Health (DOH) moved to allay fears over the availability of condoms during the Soccer World Cup. DOH gave some insight as to how its plans for the SWC will work.
The DOH doesn’t have specific numbers of condoms expected to be distributed over the period, but spokesman Fidel Hadebe says ’we are very mindful of the fact that there may be an increased demand for condoms and our planning certainly takes this into account’. The DOH recently announced that the monthly distribution is between 38 to 43 million condoms.
There will be condoms aplenty during the FIFA soccer world cup, the health department said. ’We... do not anticipate any shortage in condom distribution during the 2010 FIFA world cup,’ spokeswoman Charity Bhengu said in a statement. In November the department distributed 63 million condoms.
Zambian government says it has forseen a number of challenges in the year 2010 owing to the rising illicit drug trade and human trafficking. Speaking in an interview with ZANIS, Home Affairs minister Lameck Mangani says the new year will be challenging for his ministry in providing security. Mangani said in view of the forth coming 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 World Cup in Angola and South Africa, Zambia was most likely going to be used as transit route for human trafficking and illicit drug curtails.
Cape Town’s mayor has called the South Africa National Aids Council and Sex World Education Advocacy Group ’nuts’ for suggesting that South African condoms should be branded with footballs during the 2010 World Cup.
Sanac and Sweat are working for prostitutes’ welfare and feel that the step may be useful in raising AIDS awareness during the tournament. They have also been insisting on the decriminalisation of prostitution.
However, Mayor Dan Plato pointed out it would only promote flesh trade.
Pieter Dirk Uys, The Star:
2010 always seemed to get more attention than 2009. Everything is geared to that winter’s month when the necklace of new soccer stadiums become the arenas of the Soccer World War. Fifa has done what even a National Party government couldn’t - they have bent and knotted our laws and rights to suit their pockets to the extent of suggesting the legalisation of prostitution during the games. They caught us out! In spite of our constitution, South Africa still criminalises sex workers! They should be unionised, protected and shown as much respect as we show other prostitutes, otherwise known as actors and politicians.
Lesotho-born Thato was brought to South Africa at age three, by a woman she knew simply as granny. Five years later, her granny sold her into sexual slavery. According to a report on the News24 site, the woman who bought her was running a sex ring that police are still investigating to find out how many children were involved. Its a scenario that South African authorities and child welfare campaigners are already working to prevent during the 2010 World Cup next year, which authorities fear could draw in child traffickers hoping to cash in on the fanfare around the games. Thato, now 10, was rescued just three months ago by a social worker who brought her to Amazing Grace Childrens Home, which houses 79 children outside Johannesburg.
Urgent calls to address sex work during WC – 09/12/2009
With only six months until South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup, the nettlesome question of how to deal with sex workers looms. ’There are actually almost no sex work programmes in place at the moment,’ said Marlise Richter, a sex work researcher and member of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), at a recent consultation in Cape Town on HIV, sex work and the World Cup. According to a report on the allAfrica.com site, public health and human rights experts fear a potential disaster in the combination of a criminalized sex trade, one of the world’s highest HIV infection rates, and the arrival of an expected 450 000 soccer fans.
City launches ’Beat the Kicks 2010’ project – 01/12/2009
A Cape Town community project ’Beat the Kicks 2010’ – launched recently – aims to protect children and vulnerable adults during the 2010 World Cup against possible sexual and drug abuse, notes a report in The Herald. Dr Ethelwynn Stellenberg, chairman of the Local Integrated Network of Kuils River, said the project had been initiated because of concerns that the World Cup would bring with it people who would exploit children and uneducated adults. Due to unemployment and poor education, Stellenberg said, South Africans were vulnerable and liable to ’grab at any opportunity that falls their way, even if it is only R1 or R2’.’Everyone thinks of 2010 bringing with it all nice things and opportunities, but social pathologies are going to increase, such as prostitution, drugs and alcohol abuse,’ she said.
Mayor commits to protecting women and children – 27/11/2009
Ekurhuleni Mayor Ntombi Mekgwe has recommitted to protecting women and children, not only for 16 days but beyond the campaign. Mekgwe called on communities to mobilise against the perpetrators of violence against women and children. Moving on to the 2010 World Cup, Mekgwe said the municipality is ready to welcome the guests to the biggest soccer spectacular on African soil. ’We in the City of Ekurhuleni, like millions of South Africans are ready and poised to play our part in ensuring that South Africa and the African continent, deliver the most successful and the best ever Soccer World Cup, come 2010, which will leave a lasting legacy for our people.’
Sex workers from across the country have called for the decriminalisation of their trade and the creation of a safer working environment ahead of the 2010 World Cup. This, the workers say, will ensure they increase their fees during 2010. The Sowetan reports that they also fear they will encounter stiff competition from ’outsiders’ and organised criminals during the soccer spectacle. They also plan to dump the rand in favour of the US dollar when they target foreign fans and tourists.
Jabulisile works the streets in Hillbrow, a rough area normally avoided by tourists, but just a stone’s throw from one of the 2010 World Cup stadiums that she hopes will bring in visitors looking for sex, notes a report on the IoL site. ’The World Cup will be good for business,’ said the 48-year-old, who said she turned to prostitution to feed her two children. She hopes the authorities will let her work in peace during the World Cup, which runs June 11 to July 11, when she dreams of earning enough to build a little nest egg that would let her leave prostitution.
Fears of child sexual abuse during WC – 18/11/2009
Schoolchildren are in danger of being exploited by unscrupulous elements during the 2010 World Cup. Organisations, including the National Prosecuting Authority, are worried that children in host cities such as Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Cape Town are in danger of being used for prostitution, child pornography and cheap labour. The Sowetan reports that this emerged at a recent seminar at Safa House in Johannesburg on child trafficking and its impact on the World Cup. Patric Solomon, of non-governmental organisation Molo Songololo, said there was a need for special programmes to keep children occupied during this period.
NPA rejects human trafficking predictions – 11/11/2009
The NPA has downplayed fears of mass trafficking of women and children to SA for the World Cup. The Cape Times reports that last week, Hanlie Linde of the Stop the Trafficking of People Alliance (Stop), said up to 100 000 people could be trafficked into the country before and during the World Cup. But NPA spokesperson Bulelwa Makeke said there was no concrete evidence to support the suggestion. ’Human trafficking is very difficult to quantify; we’ll only know after 2010. In Germany, for instance, at the 2006 World Cup there were only five reported cases of people who had been trafficked,’ she is reported to have said.
Church fears rise in prostitution in 2010 – 03/11/2009
The South African Bishops’ Conference has warned that thousands of women will be trafficked to South Africa for prostitution during the 2010 World Cup, notes an Independent Catholic News report. ’We are expecting to see a sharp increase in trafficking of women forced to be prostituted for the tournament,’ said Fr Chris Townsend, spokesman from the SACBC (Bishop’s Conference of South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland). ’South Africa has become a sort of “hub” for trafficking in human persons,’ Townsend added. The Catholic Church, along with other Christians communities and various NGOs, have started an awareness campaign for the people, so they can recognize and help the victims of trafficking.
Addressing trafficking issues ahead of 2010 – 26/10/2009
An international child trafficking expert has warned that the government needs to take urgent steps now to prevent child trafficking and sexual exploitation during the 2010 World Cup. The Sowetan reports that American law professor Susan Kreston, currently based at the University of Free State, says the government must pass the Human Trafficking Bill as soon as possible. ’Whereas 99% of the fans are coming here for good and valid purposes, one percent will use the World Cup as a shield, to go out looking for street children to exploit sexually,’ Kreston said. She was speaking in Cape Town at a panel discussion on child prostitution and the 2010 World Cup.
Salvation Army social justice commission director Christine MacMillan says events such as the 2010 World Cup are hotbeds for human trafficking. The Sowetan reports that MacMillan said world sporting events are generally attended by men who are away from home and consume large quantities of alcohol. ’Sex is something they want, so the link between these events and human trafficking is obvious,’ she said. The Salvation Army has appealed to the government to pass the Human Trafficking Bill, which will make human trafficking a criminal offence, before the World Cup kicks off next June.
