Their work involves lots of touching, and social distancing
isn't possible. During the time of Covid-19, business is down for sex workers
and strippers.
With the national lockdown imminent, making a living will
become even more difficult.
As the number of Covid-19 positive cases continue to soar,
with Gauteng taking the lead, sex workers and strippers are losing business.
Sisonke, a movement formed by sex workers and for sex
workers, according to its website, has encouraged sex workers to work online as
business continues to drop.
Sisonke's Gauteng spokesperson, Katlego Rasebetse, said
because the national lockdown would hurt business, working online was the
safest option.
“Now that there is a crisis in the country, sex workers are
safer working online. We advise sex workers to try to go online for now. They
can communicate with their clients online without having any physical contact,”
he said.
Mduduzi Zwane, who strips for a living, is one of those
hard hit by the spread of the virus and the impending lockdown.
The 26-year-old said the pandemic had affected him
severely, and he fears the worst is yet to come.
“Our work has to do with contact and interacting with
clients, so the shutdown will affect us badly. Coronavirus has been affecting
me, and it is now going to get worse with the national shutdown,” he said.
He said when the coronavirus started spreading in the country,
some people cancelled and postponed bookings.
Zwane, whose stage name is Cadbury Hunk, said his confirmed
bookings had either been cancelled or postponed.
“Already our gigs are cancelled because we are dealing with
clubs so most people have postponed until this issue [coronavirus] is dealt
with. We will go an entire month with no money coming in,” he said.
Zwane said during the lockdown, he will try to move his
services online.
“Most of us are trying to go online and use the live web. I
think this will work for the time being. But I will have to register online. I
don’t have any other means of making money. If I am not stripping I am doing
massage,” Zwane said.
He said he was about to try “the house call” idea when
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the national lockdown. “I wanted to try to push with house calls but now I can’t
do that.
Zwane said Sisonke and the African Sex Workers Alliance
(Aswa) has taken precautionary measures by providing sex workers with safety
kits to protect themselves.
Rasebetse said the national lockdown will have a bad effect
on sex workers.
“Most sex workers depend on this work. Now that there will
be a national lockdown and movement of people will be severely restricted, we
are going to see lots of them kicked out of brothels because they can't pay
rent. We are now going to have sex workers who are street-based because
brothels are among the businesses that have to shut down,” Rasebetse said.
He said Sisonke and Aswa had developed guidelines for sex
workers to avoid coronavirus infection.
“Guidelines included that they must avoid kissing and wear
a mask, and find creative ways to entertain the client rather than using the
missionary position,” he said. Times
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