Durban - As Durban prepares to welcome celebrities and thousands of delegates to the 21st International Aids Conference, sex workers are expecting to cash in on the influx of foreign visitors.
Among those attending is Britain’s Prince Harry, legendary pop star Elton John and Hollywood A-listers Charlize Theron and Queen Latifah.
There are 18 000 delegates and 1 000 journalists attending the 21st International Aids Conference, to be held next week.
Sex workers have also swarmed into the city, looking to making a killing. On Friday, the chairperson of the South Beach Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP), Ebrahim Vadachia, said “a huge increase” in the number of prostitutes had been reported along the beachfront since Thursday.
“This is a highly publicised event and this type of influx of sex workers is a trend at any conference. Sex workers know these visitors are foreigners who have money, so they are ready, complete with the pimps and drug runners.
“It’s highly ironic that it’s for an Aids conference, which aims and objectives are to stop the spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic,” he said.
“Visitors to the city need to be very wary of the elements out there and should not consort with strangers.”
Durban NGO Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre assists sex workers, trafficking victims and the homeless.
Its youth co-ordinator, Thami Ntimbane, said they have also received reports that the North Beach area had seen a marked increased in sex workers in preparation for the weekend.”
Every time there is an event of international calibre, the number of ladies on the street increases – they see it as an opportunity. “A large number of these ladies are under the influence of drugs and they may rob the client on instruction from their pimp.”
“A client runs the risk of getting robbed, infected and possibly arrested, as prostitution is illegal in South Africa,” said Ntimbane.
At the previous International Aids Conference held in Durban, in 2000, Durban prostitutes reported a brisk trade. KZN SAPS media spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane, said they were not aware of the reported increase in sex workers along the beachfront, adding that “but said police would be on the lookout.
“Those practising such crime, whether prostitute or buyer, will be charged accordingly.”
Independent on Saturday