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News24 reports that providing sex workers with panic buttons to ensure their safety is among the programmes Gauteng Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko wants to focus on.
Mazibuko is the newly-elected chairperson of the provincial ANC Women's League (ANCWL). Speaking on Tuesday, she said the 351 surveillance cameras her department intended to install in city centres and townships should be located where sex workers operate. "I, as a member of the provincial government, believe that sex workers will be covered [by the surveillance cameras] and be safe. We will also be rolling out panic buttons to them, so that, in case a client does not want to pay or becomes violent, the sex workers are able to press that panic button and get assistance from law enforcement agencies," Mazibuko indicated. She added that the need to help sex workers was important, especially in dangerous places like Nugget Street in the Johannesburg CBD. Mazibuko noted that decriminalising sex work was part of the Gauteng ANCWL's discussion document. "In Gauteng, many women have found the [sex work] sector as one that is viable to make a living. We want the national government to assist us in developing legislation that decriminalises sex work because you get arrested when found as a sex worker," Mazibuko said. Meanwhile, Nokuthula Nqaba, secretary-general of the national ANCWL, said the organisation wanted Parliament to finalise deliberations and to pass the National Council on Gender-based Violence and Femicide Bill to help fight the scourge of women abuse and murders.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khaya Koko at News24 (subscriber access only)
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