Police ignore crimes against sex workers

Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) has profiles of serial killers and predators targeting streetbased sex workers but most of the cases allegedly go unpunished, even when the perpetrators are known.

Megan Lessing, the spokesperson for Sweat, says this is usually because sex workers are thought to have no sense of belonging, considering they can go missing for months and industry colleagues do not know their real names, making them hard to trace.

Lessing told Sunday World most of the cases are reported to the police, but most – murder, kidnapping and rape dockets – are often left to gather dust at police stations.

“Sex workers are vulnerable to criminal activity, and this is what we emphasise. We get many missing persons and murder reports, but most of these cases are not taken seriously. It’s almost as if sex workers are not human enough to be protected.

“They expect their dues from clients who do not want to pay after rendering their services.

“Then there are criminals who find pleasure in killing sex workers. When they go missing, there is no one to help trace their background and that’s why we have created a safe space for sex workers to leave their identity documents and emergency contact numbers to help identify them should foul play be suspected.

“It’s more dignified than putting someone’s face on the internet. There’s still a lot of shame and stigma around sex work – it is associated with immorality.”

Lessing said South Africans are now beginning to realise all of this, and expressed shock after police discovered the bodies of six women at a workshop in Joburg last Sunday.

A suspect was arrested and appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court for murder on Tuesday.

“The police knew of three missing sex workers, and the two murdered, but nothing was done until their decomposed bodies were found,” Lessing said.

“I urge the police to take reported incidents seriously, and make an effort to investigate.”

National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe did not respond to our questions after requesting we send them by email. Her phone was off when we subsequently called her.