COVID-19: Durban City Cops Launch Crackdown On Sex Workers Defying Lockdown Regulations

Sandile Motha

The Durban metro police have launched a crackdown on sex workers who defy the Level 4 COVID-19 Lockdown regulations by continuing to peddle flesh in the Durban central business district.

Octavia Sithole, a sex worker and an activist who founded a social media group #SexWorkisEmploymenttoUs, said there were more than 3000 women who are registered with their movement asking for help since the commencement of the lockdown in March.

“These are desperate young women some with college degrees but cannot find employment, selling sex to them is a livelihood. They feed their families and pay their own university studies. They are not asking for any handouts or favours but wants to be allowed to operate without being victimised and harassed by police,” said Sithole.

She added that police in Durban often asked for sexual favours and bribes from their clients and if they refused they threaten them with