UPON seeing a sleek Mercedes-Benz approaching the parking
lot outside the dilapidated farm compounds at Kumavhoroso, about 30km north of
Pretoria, Sibongile Khumalo walked seductively towards it with a beaming smile
on her face.
Dressed in a tight black mini skirt that revealed the
greater part of her legs and a matching orange top that exposed her cleavage,
the 32-year-old woman tightly hugged the vehicle owner before the two
disappeared into a room at the compound.
This has been the life of Khumalo, who after relocating
from Budiriro high-density suburb in Harare to the neighbouring South Africa,
10 years ago, found the going tough and reluctantly turned into commercial sex
work.
Today, the mother-of-two is one of many the Zimbabwean
women who have invaded a small farm now popularly known as Kumavhoroso, in an
area called Rooiwal located north of Pretoria.
“I came here 10 years ago and I could not find a job. This
is because I do not have the required papers for me to secure a decent job.
Life became tough and I left two kids back home with my mother. I had no
option, but to become a commercial sex worker. This is why I came here
Kumavhoroso,” she said.
When NewsDay visited Kumavhoroso recently, a number of
vehicles were parked around the compound, where the commercial sex workers are
booked. Outside the compound, male clients will be drinking beer and having
their cars washed before those interested hook up with the sex workers for a
quickie, if not a sleep over.
At the compound, about four women share a room that is
furnished with small old mattresses. Most of the commercial sex workers are
from Zimbabwe while others hail from the surrounding areas.
The area seems to be an abandoned small farm, but is
popular with a number of men, who want to quench their sexual desires.
“Back home, I tell them that I am working in a restaurant.
We are getting good bucks here especially at weekends. Some of the sex workers
here work as maids during the week and come here on Friday until Sunday because
business will be brisk during the weekend,” she added.
The women, who ply their trade at Kumavhoroso charge R50
for a quickie, while clients who opt for a sleep-over have to fork out about
R200.
This is not Khumalo’s predicament only, a number of
Zimbabwean female migrants in neighbouring South Africa have turned to
prostitution to earn a living. Apart from Kumavhoroso, other areas that have
become hotspots include Hillbrow Inn, Summit and Capital Inn.
Figures from South Africa’s 2011 Census suggest that 3,3% —
or about 1,7 million — of the country’s 51,7 million population are “non-South
African” citizens with Zimbabwe having the largest number of migrants.
Data collated by the World Bank and the United Nations in
2011 also suggests a migrant population of about 1,86 million people.
Peter Magaso, the director of Magaso-Gede Foundation, a
Pretoria-based organisation that assists Zimbabwean migrants in need, confirmed
that women have turned to commercial sex work and other odd jobs to earn a
living.
Magaso said there is need to empower women back home, so
that they engage self-sustaining projects that would stop them from crossing
the Limpopo into South Africa.
“We need to empower them with practical jobs so that they
become self-sustained. Our politicians in Zimbabwe must come up with projects
that benefit the populace first before thinking of power so that we can bring
sanity in the country. A number of women are turning to prostitution because of
lack of employment, low wages as well as high cost of living in South Africa.
“The cost of living is expensive to a foreigner, and most
of them left families back home. The money will be too little hence they have
to supplement the meagre earning with immoral jobs. Some of the women hire
children and take them to traffic robots to beg, it’s a pity,” he said.
Since the dawn of the new millennium, Zimbabwe has been
experiencing a serious economic meltdown that saw a number of people migrating
to other countries mainly South Africa. Most of the migrants across the Limpopo
have been surviving on menial and odd jobs like working in the farms, mines,
restaurants and as housemaids.
A survey conducted by this paper in both Pretoria and
Johannesburg noted that a number of Zimbabwean women take to the traffic
robots, awaiting for potential part-time employers who hire them to wash their
clothes, clean their yards among other chores.
Top women rights, pressure group Stand director Charlene
Chekenya said it is high time government creates economic and educational
activities to support women and girls to avoid a situation where migrants in
the neighbouring South Africa engage in unorthodox means to survive.
“It is high time the government and non-governmental
organisations start taking a bolder stand in creating economic and educational
activities to support women and girls. In fact the government ought to
concentrate more dealing with the devastating impact of political instability
which is affecting economic activities in Zimbabwe, pushing our Zimbabwean
mothers and sisters to engage in shameful means of earning a living.
“Prostitution has seized to be to be a choice for our
sisters and mothers, it has become a survival strategy. The time is ripe for
authorities to invest more on sustainable social security measures to cater for
women and girls, the most vulnerable population in the communities,” she said.
The fragile economic state has seen unemployment rising to
more than 90% with the majority opting for informal jobs while the rest skip
the borders in search of fortune.
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