Thai sex workers who are also illegal immigrants would rather stay in South Africa than go back home, as they are "better off here".
So said one of many Thai prostitutes who have worked in Richards Bay for the past three years when the Sunday Tribune visited a well-known sports bar on Friday night.
The bar - which the manager has denied is a brothel - is situated in a shopping centre and also has Chinese, coloured, white and black women working there.
While I waited to get in, two men kept watch on the parking bays while the guard at the gate asked me how old I was. "Leave him alone, he's driving a car, so he's old enough," said one of the men before the guard smiled and opened the door for me.
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The women in the bar looked like they sold sex - that is, apart from the rather brawny bar-lady. Most were beautiful and well-dressed.
I had my first drink before a Thai woman, who went by the name of Pat or "whatever" I wanted to call her, approached me. She said she was 19 years old when she arrived in South Africa after responding to an au pair advert in a Thai newspaper. She spoke fluent English like most of the women.
Four women had already winked or danced salaciously against me before I could finish my first drink. One blew a kiss to get my attention.
One Asian woman walked into the bar in the skimpiest of outfits, looked around and took off her panties and invitingly waved them around in the air. Two patrons stood up but only one walked out with her. "When she does that she always gets a client," said Pat.
Some of the women seemed too young, but Pat said they were just "small" in size.
She laid it down simply and said that R150 bought a client 15 minutes; R200 bought 30 minutes; R300 an hour; R800 to take home for an hour; and R1 300 for the whole night in one of the rooms at the bar.
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