Harare’s central business district has seen an upsurge in the number of commercial sex workers who are trying to irk a living in an unforgiving economy.
By Marceline Madzura and Gift Gara
Traditionally, ‘thigh vendors’ are known to operate in the avenues area, at the peripheries of the CBD but the area is now heavily congested driving some to try their luck at the very heart of the city.
A snap survey by 263Chat.com showed that the corner of Mbuya Nehanda and Kwame Nkrumah as well as at the intersection of Chinhoyi street and Nelson Mandela avenue have become the new market place for sex work.
While streets in the avenues area normally come to life in the wee hours of the night when sex workers flood the area to market their ‘wares’, the newly opened souk gets busy from as early as 7 pm.
“When you see someone unashamedly partaking in sex work in the CBD, it is a reflection of how the country’s socioeconomic status is dying,” said Thandiwe Moyo, a vendor who operates at the corner of Chinhoyi Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue.
“They mainly target those who would have knocked off work and are willing to take them home. Security guards are also working in cahoots with the sex workers, providing them with ‘accommodation’ space within the premises they look after,” said Moyo.
The survey also revealed that the new area of operation is near the popular club Big Apple which makes it a strategic position where they can easily woo imbibers.
“Things are not easy out there. I tried everything I could to survive following the death of my husband in a car crash in 2019. I sold vegetables, and second hands clothes, tried a hand in mining but it did not work out, yet I have children to feed, said a commercial sex worker who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“A friend invited me here, telling me that she left the avenues area because sex workers were continuously fighting for clients and the area was heavily congested.”
She added that she charges an average of US$5 per client for one sex session and on a good day she can pocket US$20 but it is not always the case.
Some days they go home empty-handed.
Analysts have noted that the continued surge in the cost of living can be a trigger effect pushing people to engage in acts that society frowns upon.
Zimbabwe’s annual consumer price inflation climbed to 72.7% in March of 2022, from 66.1% in the prior month, reaching its highest point since last June.
While the government, through the National Development Strategy (NDS1) seeks to: “Reduce extreme poverty and improve access to basic social services in all its forms and dimensions, including narrowing inequalities,” the situation on the ground points to a scenario where citizens’ quality of life is plummeting.
This has led to a proliferation in the number of commercial sex workers even in high-density suburbs like Dzivarasekwa where a place commonly referred to as ‘kuma 1room’ has been a hive of thigh vending activities.
