Mikhail Manuel, Ward 59 councillor
If we are to bring an end to sex work on the streets of Kenilworth we must do so by protecting the right to dignity and freedom of sex workers, while upholding the rule of law.
There is nothing new about the discomfort of witnessing a scantily dressed woman, in the late hours of the night, on a corner in Kenilworth. It has been a practice for decades.
At present, our national laws have deemed it illegal to perform any sexual act in public; appear in the nude or expose genitalia; or solicit or importune any person for the purpose of prostitution. Furthermore, no one can profit from the sale of sex in South Africa. The courts have repeatedly reaffirmed our country’s position on prostitution; the most recent of which was in a sex trafficking and prostitution case before the North Gauteng High Court in February 2023. There have been several prior judgements, related to sex worker activities in 2009 in Durban, 2014 in Cape Town, and 2020 in Pretoria.
However, even though the law is clear on this issue, it does not remove any person’s right to dignity and freedom.
A 2009 Western Cape High Court judgment related to a challenge brought by the Sex Worker Education Advisory Task Team against SAPS and City of Cape Town Law Enforcement made the point that it is wrong to arrest anyone, sex workers included, without the express purpose of prosecution or further investigation for prosecution.
This point was made because sex workers have for decades experienced unnecessary arrests, where the purpose was not to prosecute but rather to intimidate and deter the act, or as the judge aptly put it: “What the police are therefore targeting is not the illegality of sex work per se, but rather the public manifestations of it. The arrests of the sex workers therefore amount to a form of social control.”
Attempting to shape the character and activities of a neighbourhood in this fashion is wrong, but it does not change the fact that sex work is illegal in South Africa.
Whether you are a customer or a sex worker, we don’t want these activities to be taking place on the streets of Kenilworth. We don’t want to see oral intercourse on the corner of Kenilworth Road and Main Road, as I have witnessed.
We don’t want to see a woman exposing herself on the corner of Summerley Road and Thomas Road as a car approaches, as I have witnessed.
We don’t want to have a scantily dressed person approach and peer into our car at an intersection, as has happened to me on multiple occasions in Kenilworth. We don’t want these activities in Kenilworth and the law entitles us to take this stand.
It is crucially important to remember that the law applies the illegality of prostitution to both the customer and the sex worker. This was reiterated by the Constitutional Court in an October 2002 judgment. The law is gender neutral on who is breaking the law when engaging in a sex trade. Whether you are a customer in Kenilworth looking for a sex worker or a sex worker in Kenilworth looking for a customer, your activities are not welcome here.
We are a close-knit neighbourhood with young families, elderly couples, and established professionals. Kenilworth is a caring and law-abiding community where all people are welcome; illegal activities are simply not.
I call on every resident in Kenilworth to alert Law Enforcement or SAPS on every occasion that you see illegal sex work activities or suspicious activities that may be linked. This may have been a practice in Kenilworth for several decades, but we can bring an end to it by reporting it appropriately.
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