By Dalphine Tagwireyi
Zimbabwe sex workers are tired of bribing policemen with free sex to avoid arrest.
Speaking to Scrolla.Africa, sex workers said that shameless policemen are now taking advantage of the freebies on offer and disturbing their business as they can’t service paying clients on some nights.
There are an estimated 45,000 sex workers in Zimbabwe, where sex work is criminalised.
“Business was low at the beginning of the year and it was made worse by policemen, as one policeman can take the slot of three clients, and we lost a lot of business due to this,” 24-year-old Elline Kanyanga said.
Kanyanga, who plies her trade in Harare, said reporting these rogue policemen to their colleagues is a futile exercise. The cops simply harass and turn them away, or raid them while they are doing their work.
“We have no one to run to and we are also trying to survive, but we are being abused by policemen, who on some nights pose as clients only to show their identification after they are done,” she lamented.
Another sex worker from Harare, Cathrine Ganyani, 25, said she has endured police abuse numerous times.
“They are raping us because our encounters are not consensual. After abusing me, they have demanded that I give them food and I am forced to surrender money I have worked for so that they don’t arrest me,” she said.
Ganyani said that her friend now lives in fear and is suicidal after she was forced to engage in a threesome with two policemen, who went as far as performing anal sex without protection.
“They left her traumatised and she is failing to work as she has now resorted to abusing drugs just to numb the pain. We have nowhere to report these crimes because they only harass us at police stations.”
Zimbabwe police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi told Scrolla.Africa that he is not aware of any complaints by sex workers of sexual abuse.
Pictured above: Sex worker stock image
Image source: iStock
