A night out with the ladies

LAWRENCE OOKEDITSE
Correspondent | Wednesday June 25, 2008 00:00

We pull off by the bars. A few metres away by the street stand some women. I would have thought they were waiting for a Combi. My aide tells me to move closer to them and see what happens. I challenge him to do it first fearing he may be throwing a hoax at me.

As he approaches, at least two of the women almost meet him half way. Another woman stands alone at a street corner. I go over to her and she tells me it is P20 per hour. My aide was told the same thing.

Our next destination is what I am told is the potpourri of prostitution in the city. The market is a few minutes drive from the Tlokweng border gate in front of a line of bars. There is Paka Tsotlhe Bar and Mphatlalatsane bar, flanked by a lodge.

Here a larger number of women loiter; as the state charges idlers. A little more confident, I approach one of them standing alone by a wall. 'Nna Rra ke batla madi (I want money),' she says. She tells me that if I were to take her overnight the price would be P100.

She asks me where I stay and I tell her the Village. She quickly asks: 'Are you not a policeman?'. I tell her that I am not, and ask her why. She tells me she does not want to get herself into trouble.

'I stay in Broadhurst but we can still go to your house,' she says. Having gotten a deal that I was not really looking for, I tell her I have to drop somebody off then come back for her. She tells me that if I take long, I may not find her.

Another lady of the night tells me she wants P70 if she is to spend the night with me. As I leave her, two men walk past and two women go after them. 'I know this one. He is my customer,' one of the women says triggering a convivial smile from the man who takes her hand. Our next stop is the area popularly referred to as Middle Star. Here one still finds them waiting on the street sides and at corners of residential houses.

A young woman does not hesitate to stop me. 'Hi sweetie, want to go shag?,' she inquires. With my job made easier, I ask her: 'How much?'.

'Give me P100 for the night or P20 per round,' she says. Yet again, I lie that I will be back. At the back of my mind, I feel bad to be making false promises to those who are 'just making a living'. Most of them turn out to be Zimbabwean women. However, Batswana women are also trading at night and the main difference is the price.

Zimbabwean women offer services at cheaper rates. Some of the women have day jobs and use commercial sex to supplement their incomes. Others engage in the business as an alternative to starvation or stealing. Some men resort to buying sex to avoid raping women, a senior prison official told me.

'People do not realise that these women help fight crime. They offer sexual services to people who would otherwise have raped. So they reduce crime,' he says.

It all happens in the shadows of the night. A lady from the street corner is approached by a gentleman and they talk shortly and take-off together. If you have the fare, I found out, you do not have to say much, all you do is state your intentions; and how long you want to be with her.

It is just a market transaction like any other, it appears. A single market location, on a Tuesday evening, was lined by at least 30 women. This is much more than an ordinary supermarket employs. A rough estimate of their income exceed those of the supermarket workers.

Well, far from being self-righteous, I still can not come to terms with having to whisk a woman away to have sex at the snap of a finger!  The anti-prostitution movement may have a point. If I sound confused, perhaps it is the subject matter that is confusing me.