The Voice (Francistown)
Naledi Mokgwathi
27 November 2007
opinion
Police and the courts have it hard as the law is silent on sex workers
They were reported and picked up for prostitution. But the silence on the law on the matter meant the alleged Zimbabwean prostitutes ended up with a lighter charge of street loitering.
The eight Zimbabwean women were recently brought before Urban Customary Court charged with idling and being disorderly on the streets of Gaborone in the middle of the night.
Finance Sikani, 33, Manyametsi Chinamasa, 24, Perpetual Mabara, 24, Shabba Mapuranga, 23, Anna Nyakujara, 27, Kate Mhlongwa, 32, Nyoni Marru and 40 year old Girlie Ramara, recently appeared before Deputy Court president, Godfrey Moitlobo, for walking around idly and being disorderly near Gaborone Sun and Middle Star for no apparent reason. All the eight women pleaded guilty as charged.
The women were sentenced to 14 days in prison wholly suspended for two months.
What the public should be intrigued about is that the women were allegedly picked up for prostitution. Speaking outside court some frustrated police officers revealed that some of the perpetrators had confessed to them that they were prostitutes. They told The Voice that the women had also shared their dark secrets.
"They told us that they can spend the whole night servicing two men at the same time. Charges are P150 for the whole night."
The policemen said that what frustrates them the most is that they keep catching the women, but whenever they are brought to court they get light charges because there is no law that can bind them.
The Minister of Justice, Defence and Security and Francistown East Member of Parliament, Phandu Skelemani, recently confirmed that the law is silent on prostitution so police cannot arrest anyone accused of practicing what many assume to be an illegal profession.
"I have heard that the police sometimes arrest them for loitering and being disorderly. The law is silent about prostitution. If two people enter into an agreement for sex there is no way the police can arrest them," he explained.
The law in Botswana seems not to be precise on prostitution. Is it illegal or not? What constitutes prostitution? Can a woman request money from her sex partner and be a prostitute? If it's not illegal, then why the talk about legalising prostitution?
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