SABC News reports that responding to questions from sex workers at the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Deputy Police Minister Bongani Mkhongi said he supported calls for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa.
He indicated that police no longer wanted to arrest sex workers, but were forced to do so by law. Sex workers have accused the police of harassing and arresting them and want sex work to be recognised and legalised in SA. Mkhongi commented: “South Africa has lots of crime, very heavy crime, (to deal with) rather than us raiding people and taking condoms as evidence to court. We are tired of this thing, so we must change the law. And the President, who was deputy president then, we’ve raised this issue with him.” Mkhongi added: “So the decriminalisation of sex work is a serious matter for us as police because we must focus into cash in transit heists, so we are going to deal with that, that is our commitment.”
- Read a short report by Thabile Mbhele at SABC News
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