Prostitution in Zimbabwe

In the 1890s the Second Boer War disrupted the sex trade in the gold-mining areas of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and the dispersal of the sex trade led to "urban problems" in what was then Southern Rhodesia. Public pressure led to the passage of immorality legislation in 1900.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zurzausxnAIC|first=Tsuneo|last=Yoshikuni|title=African Urban Experiences in Colonial Zimbabwe: A Social History of Harare Before 1925|publisher=African Books Collective|year=2007|isbn=9781779220547|page=25}}

Prior to independence (1980) colonial vagrancy laws were used against sex workers. In 1983 there was a major effort to eliminate sex work in post-independence Zimbabwe by rounding up hundreds of women and detaining them until they could prove they were not involved in the trade, otherwise they were sent to resettlement camps. A number of women's groups supported this as strengthening marriage.{{cite journal|first=Gay W.|last=Seidman|title=Women in Zimbabwe: Postindependence Struggles|date=Autumn 1984|journal=Feminist Studies|volume=10|issue=3|pages=419–440|doi=10.2307/3178033|jstor=3178033|hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0010.305|hdl-access=free}}[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nwItHXkm25cC S Jacobs, T Howard. Women in Zimbabwe: Stated policy and State action, in Haleh Afshar 9ed. Women, State, and Ideology: Studies from Africa and Asia. SUNY Press, 1987] {{ISBN|9780791494332}}

As with many African countries, the onset of HIV/AIDS dramatically increased the interest in sex work.{{sfn|Magaisa|2001}}

Prostitution is addressed in Part III of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act 2004.

The police can arrest any woman walking (in the streets) after 7pm.{{cite news|url=https://www.newsday.co.zw/2012/12/mp-fumes-over-sex-workers/|title=MP fumes over sex workers|date=5 December 2012|newspaper=NewsDay|location=Zimbabwe}}

In 2011 Thabita Khumalo, a MDC-T MP, proposed that prostitution in Zimbabwe be decriminalised. She stated that decriminalizing prostitution would address three important issues: corruption, HIV/Aids and women’s rights.{{cite web|url=https://nzcn.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/mdc-pushing-to-legalize-prostitution/|title=MDC pushing to legalize prostitution|date=16 December 2011|website=Nottingham Zimbabwean Community Network}}

Khumalo, who has suggested that the word prostitute be changed to pleasure engineer, has continued her campaign despite being demoted in her party in 2012. She has claimed her position on the issue may have contributed to this. She is supported by the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN),

in addition to sex workers themselves.{{cite web|url=https://www.zimeye.net/2012/07/21/prostitutes-back-thabitha-khumalo-2/|title=Prostitutes back Thabitha Khumalo|date=21 July 2012|website=ZimEye}}

The UK based Open Society Foundations reported in 2012 that the police are the greatest abusers of sex workers in Zimbabwe.[http://www.bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-17933-article-Zimbabwe+police+worst+abusers+of+prostitutes.html Zimbabwe police worst abusers of prostitutes]. Bulawayo 24 July 23, 2012

{{see also|Human trafficking in Zimbabwe}}

Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Women and girls from Zimbabwean towns bordering South Africa, Mozambique, and Zambia are subjected to sex trafficking in brothels catering to long-distance truck drivers on both sides of the borders. Zimbabwean women and children are subjected to sex trafficking in cities and surrounding towns. Reports indicate that adults have recruited girls for child sex trafficking in Victoria Falls. The practice of ngozi, giving a family member to another family to avenge the spirits of a murdered relative, creates a vulnerability to trafficking.{{cite web|title=Zimbabwe 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report|url=https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271316.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703181559/https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271316.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date=3 July 2017|website=U.S. Department of State|access-date=2 February 2018}}{{PD-notice}}

Zimbabwean women are lured into hospitality largely in neighbouring countries and some women become victims of forced prostitution. Women are exploited in sex trafficking in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Many Zimbabwean adult and child migrants enter South Africa with the assistance of taxi drivers who transport them to the border at Beitbridge or nearby unofficial crossing locations and are subject to sex trafficking. Some of the migrants are transferred to criminal gangs that subject them to forced prostitution in Musina, Pretoria, Johannesburg, or Durban. Refugees from Somalia and Democratic Republic of the Congo reportedly travel from Zimbabwe’s Tongogara Refugee Camp to Harare, where they are forced into prostitution.

The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Zimbabwe as a 'Tier 2 Watch List' country.

• Index of Zimbabwe-related articles
• Prostitution in Africa

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/17/zimbabwe.aids Harare elite driven into prostitution. Guardian Oct 17 2004]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070914180528/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article2010041.ece Teachers sell sex to buy food as Mugabe cronies get richer. Times June 1 2007]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080213104938/http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/incest6.11327.html Zimbabwe clamps down on male hookers. New Zimbabwe 11/12/2009]
• [http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/01/12/the-tougher-side-of-prostitution/ The tougher side of prostitution. News Day Jan 12 2013]
• {{Cite web|last=Herald|first=The|title=Unpacking law on prostitution . . .Women have the same right to Freedom of Movement as men|url=https://www.herald.co.zw/unpacking-law-on-prostitution-women-have-the-same-right-to-freedom-of-movement-as-men/|access-date=2022-01-24|website=The Herald|language=en-GB}}
• [https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/ZWE/INT_CEDAW_CSS_ZWE_41106_E.docx Zimbabwe Sex Workers Alliance Shadow Report]
• {{cite news |title="Even though we are sex workers, we're still people": living the harsh reality of sex work in Zimbabwe |url=https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2021/june/20210602_sex-work-zimbabwe |access-date=26 May 2022 |agency= |publisher=UNIAIDS |date=2 June 2021}}
• {{cite news |last1=Moyo |first1=von Jeffrey |title=Hunger and poverty make young girls sell their bodies |url=https://www.dandc.eu/de/article/zimbabwe-seeing-spike-child-prostitution-poverty-and-hunger-spread |access-date=26 May 2022 |publisher=Engagement Global |date=15 February 2021}}
• {{cite news |last1=Mutsaka |first1=Farai |title=Zimbabwe's sex workers on streets despite virus restrictions |url=https://apnews.com/article/zimbabwe-lifestyle-africa-virus-outbreak-harare-4cffd62b0464d9fc22aec6a68aee8d3a |access-date=26 May 2022 |work=AP NEWS |publisher=AP NEWS |date=June 17, 2020}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=uiozAQAAIAAJ Moyo, Sam. The prostitution question: With special reference to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies (Harare) 1991]
• {{cite journal |last1=Mazvarirwofa |first1=Kudzai |title=Sex Work During the Pandemic Becomes Even More Dangerous |journal=Global Press Journal |date=January 27, 2022 |url=https://globalpressjournal.com/africa/zimbabwe/pandemic-sex-work-becomes-even-dangerous/ |access-date=26 May 2022}}
• {{cite web |title=Hands Off II: reducing violence against sex workers |url=https://aidsfonds.org/work/hands-off-reducing-violence-against-sex-workers |website=aidsfond |access-date=26 May 2022}}

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mX0_Z3-yThUC|first=Ishmael|last=Magaisa|chapter=Prostitution, patriarchy and marriage; A Zimbabwean case study|editor-first=Apollo|editor-last=Rwomire|title=African Women and Children: Crisis and Response|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2001|isbn=9780275962180|pages=127–142}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-Q_AQAAIAAJ|first=Welshman|last=Ncube|title=Family law in Zimbabwe|publisher=Legal Resources Foundation|date=1989|isbn=9780908312016 }}
• G. Feltoe. A guide to the criminal law of Zimbabwe. Legal Resources Foundation, 2004

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120824171013/http://www.kubatana.net/docs/legisl/criminal_law_code_050603.pdf CRIMINAL LAW (CODIFICATION AND REFORM) ACT 2004]

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