By Hazvinei Mwanaka
Organizations representing sex workers in Zimbabwe have urged the government to decriminalize sex work as targeting the key population is essential for the country to reach the 2030 health goals.
Under the ambit of Springs of Life Zimbabwe, the sex workers engaged Parliamentarians for a needs assessment dialogue in Masvingo on Thursday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Precious Msindo programmes coordinator for Springs of Life Zimbabwe called for Parliamentarians to reform the laws and clear a roadmap for decriminalization of sex work in Zimbabwe.
“We wanted to understand what are the issues or the problems that sex workers are facing here in Masvingo and which laws can they say these laws are affecting them. From the discussions that we had today with Parliamentarians, we are happy to note that they know that there are sex workers in the community.
“However the issue is that the Parliamentarians didn’t know that sex workers are being arrested. Sex workers are the only ones who are being arrested and not their clients,” she said.
She added that they are happy that the MPs made a commitment to follow up on the sex workers’ issues.
“We are anticipating that sex work in Zimbabwe should be decriminalized so that sex workers will be able to access health services and also essential services like legal services. We say sex work is work, I am a human being and we are part of the community so we are supposed to be protected by the law. We should be able to report our cases to the police station like when raped, but from the discussions, we heard, our members are not taken serious when they report rape cases as the police dismiss them as sex workers,” she added.
MP for Emakhandeni- Luveve constituency Discent Bajila who is also a public health activist said from the conversations that they had with sex workers, accessing health services at the public institutions is no longer discriminatory.
“I was very happy to note that sex workers are no longer discriminated against at public hospitals. Previously we were having a situation whereby people who identified themselves or are identified as sex workers or as people living with HIV and AIDS would face discrimination when accessing health services,” he said.
He also said what is required is for action on the side of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs so that issues of sex work whether offensive or legal, must not be discriminatory to the extent that there are continuous arrests of people who are said to be selling sex for a living.
“However, we are not seeing arrests for those paying for sex and this is an issue to be discussed such that the police should not target only the sex workers. If those paying for sex are not arrested, then the sex workers should be spared as well.
“From where I stand, whilst we reach at that stage where there is zero discrimination we arrive at a point where the role of sex workers in the fight against HIV and AIDS will be correctly identified and our strategies as a country will be useful,” he said.
Dr Ruth Labode, former MP and Chairperson for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health said she is working with Springs of Life in creating a roadmap to help in the decriminalization of sex work.
“I am coming from a position where we are saying as Zimbabweans we acknowledge sex work, even from our grandparents, in Ndebele there is something they say “idlozi lesiwule,” in shona “shavi rechihure”. We go to the religious sector pastors they say sex workers are possessed with demons.
“My concern is why are we criminalizing the spirit, if it is a spirit there is a way it can be managed culturally or religiously, either they accept the spirit, they start respecting the women as they are or they chase it out. However that is not being done so what I am saying is that it is not right to have a law criminalizing sex work,” she said.
She added that sex work in Zimbabwe is criminalized and this dents the image of the country.
“I feel that it is a very difficult thing to implement and it causes a lot of corruption. So for sex workers to be able to live a normal life and possibly think about other income generating projects or survival skills, they need to practice their trade freely. They should not be afraid of what they are doing thinking that anytime they will be arrested,” added Labode.
She said sex workers are part of key populations who have been identified as having high risk of HIV infection if they do not access to health services. This will cause the country not to reach the 2030 health target.