Johannesburg - The Gauteng Education Department says it will bring the sex trade outside the Pretoria West High School to a halt.
This follows a public outcry about sex workers plying their trade next to the school, as reported in the Pretoria News on Monday.
“We are aware of prostitutes plying their trade next to the school. In 2014, we removed them with the assistance of the police and the community policing forum. It is unfortunate that they came back,” said spokesman Oupa Bodibe.
School management also said the sex workers were exposing pupils to sexual activities and attracting criminal elements to the area.
Young pupils were being exposed to methods used by sex workers to attract clients, such as lifting up their dresses and exposing their bodies.
In makeshift structures of plastic sheets and boxes on the border of the school fence sex workers engage in all manner of illicit activities.
“We have arranged a meeting on Thursday at the school involving the ward councillor, community policing forum and police,” Bodibe said.
He said the department urged sex workers in the area to co-operate so that learning and teaching could take place in a safe and secure environment.
The Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce said it wanted the process of moving the sex workers to be well managed.
It also wanted an assurance that the sex workers' rights would not be violated.
Pretoria News