Johannesburg - The ANC in Gauteng had proposed at the social transformation committee at the party’s police conference that sex work be decriminalised, says commission head Lindiwe Sisulu.
However the recommendation was stopped on its tracks by some delegates who complained that the proposal was not run through proper structures first before it was bought to the conference.
The proposal was not even sent to plenary.
Sisulu said the province substantiated their reason for the call to legalise sex work, because they felt the government was being too “harsh” on people who were making a living.
The issue on decriminalising sex work has been a very contentious issue in the country with a number of civil society organisations calling for it to be decriminalised.
“It was Gauteng that proposed the idea and it didn’t make to plenary because of issues raised in how it was brought to conference,” said Sisulu.
In March 2016, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a National Sex Worker Sector Plan but not even his attendance could signal the government’s intentions to legalise sex work.
The social transformation commission also discussed the rise in femicide incidents and recommended that more effort should be placed on empowering women.
It was recommended that children’s courts should be separate from normal courts, but also that their cases should be fast tracked in order to reduce trauma.
On social issues such the selling of alcohol, the commission raised concerns on alcohol that it being sold close toochurches and schools.
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