When sex workers are reduced to backdrops, it becomes easier to ignore and deny their rights, revealing a deeper ethical problem and highlighting the difference between documenting a context and reproducing a gaze.
The recent "Raid to nowhere - my unlikely night with police on Queen Street, Kensington" (15 March 2026) is, on the surface, a compelling piece of writing. It is atmospheric and immersive, drawing the reader into a rain-soaked street, flashing lights and the uneasy theatre of a late-night police operation.
As a crime narrative, it works.
But presented as journalism - under "Reporter's Notebook" rather than a clearly marked opinion piece - it raises more difficult questions.
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Because good writing does not absolve ethical responsibility. If anything, it heightens it - particularly when it relates to sex workers, who face some of the highest levels of violence, discrimination and social stigma in South Africa.
The more compelling the narrative, the more power it has to shape public perception.
And this is precisely where this piece becomes troubling.
Police raids in South Africa are not a neutral event. They carry a long history - from apartheid-era enforcement of racial and moral codes to contemporary patterns of selective policing. For sex workers, research consistently documents harassment, gender-based and sexual violence, and abuse at the hands of law enforcement.
This is not abstract. It is a reality. One of...
