Sex trade booming in Middelburg

If its your belief that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, you are sadly mistaken.

The girls in Klip Street are mostly local girls who work as prostitutes to survive. Most of them have families with whom they spend time during the day, and work to support at night.

In Rivier Street you get two types of girls. The one group works till midnight, then returns home. Many of them stay in the CBD. The second group work to sustain their drug addictions. They are the ones you will find working until the early morning hours, in almost any weather condition.

It is rumoured that a group of prostitutes from eMalahleni has recently entered the area, brought here by a drug dealer.

Many of these girls work for, and are moved by, drug dealers.

These girls are required to buy their drugs exclusively from their handlers. They also sell most of the stuff they manage to steal, like client’s cell phones, through their handlers.

It is also not uncommon for girls to be kidnapped and relocated by dealers who, force them to work in exchange for drugs and lodging.

A trusted source in Klip Street says that drug dealers sealed off the street a couple of weeks ago and assaulted the girls in the area who were not working for them.

“They tried to get rid of the girls who do private business because they ask cheaper rates than the ones working for a dealer. The R50 girls were taking too much business away from the R100 girls.”

The person said that police did not respond to phone calls for assistance.

“These girls are exposed to so many dangers I do not think a ‘normal’ person can understand. Imagine getting into a car with a stranger. Not knowing if he is going to be kind or cruel,” another person with intimate knowledge said.

The Middelburg Observer went to investigate. During daytime around six women were seen sitting next to the Old Belfast road whilst another four were spotted in the vicinity of Uitkyk informal settlement out on the Keiskamma Road extension.

Although it is difficult to keep count, an estimated 30 girls work the streets of the CBD at night.

A general complaint among sex workers is that police officers often extort money from them as well as free sex.

Residents in areas where prostitutes work, have reported seeing mobile clinic services offering primary healthcare services to them. They also receive their condoms from the clinics.

The lines are blurred when it comes to prostitution. Is it still illegal and if so why is nothing done about it? Prostitution has been decriminalised in Gauteng but not officially in Mpumalanga.

To charge someone with prostitution you cannot simply arrest the first scantily clad woman you encounter on a street corner. It must be proved that she was soliciting money for sex.

•The Middelburg police did not reply to a media inquiry about their stance on prostitution before print.

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