SYDNEY SAIZE IN CHIMANIMANI
Commercial sex workers in Chimanimani, Manicaland Province have claimed that illegal gold and diamond panners are paying US$1 per sex session as their usual clients have been hit the hardest by the adverse effects of Covid-19, Business Times can report.
The pandemic has led to retrenchments and the closure of companies leaving the illegal gold and diamond panners as the few clients left with meaningful disposable incomes.
But, the sex workers lamented the abuse they go through at the hands of the illegal panners commonly referred to as Makorokoza or Magweja.
“Life is not rosy anymore,” Rosemary Chuma, one of the sex workers told Business Times.
“The illegal gold and diamond panners are now the only ones who have disposable income and largely make up our client pool. (But), they are really rough and violent,” Chuma, a mother of three from Ngangu village in Chimanimani said.
She added: “We have no choice but to agree to their terms and they usually pay less than what would have been agreed upon.
“In most instances they just pay US$1 for an outing when we would have agreed US$3 or US$4. With no choice one will accept it or else you won’t get anything at all.”
She said with a family to feed it would be disastrous to return home empty handed.
“The children would need food, clothing, and school fees so you will end up saying half a loaf is better than nothing,’’ Chuma said.
Another sex worker, Angela Chikwama, told Business Times during a media tour of Chimanimani area that sex workers were facing problems.
The media tour was organised by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists,
“We sometimes encounter clients who want unprotected sex and they will offer more money than what we would have bargained for. It would be very tempting to let go of such an offer. Some would agree to that but with the underlying risks of contracting the HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections it’s not worth falling for it considering the costs of treatment thereafter,” she said.
“I once fell for it and contracted an STI which cost me more than what I had been paid for in transport cost to Mutare where I was referred to and the drugs that needed to be bought for full recovery.”
Chikwama who said she indulged into sex work at age 16 after the passing on of both her parents a decade ago appealed to the government to consider offering mining claims to consortia of women at zero deposit.
“This business is not sustaining and not healthy hence there is need to do something that takes you beyond.
“We have tried the illegal mining but it is a cut throat business with the menfolk, besides that, police arrests are frequent and as payment, the law enforcement agents may demand sexual favours if one fails to raise the required fines,” she said.
Woman activist, Caroline Matasva of the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research (CeSHHAR) in Manicaland Province said the organisation assists registered sex workers with free medical treatment in case of contracting STIs among other related infections.
“We urge sex workers to register with CeSHHAR and then they will get the help they would require in times of need.
“It is also important that they report to the police all sexual abuses for the law to take its course against the offenders,” Matasva said.
Manicaland Provincial Mines and Mining Development director, Ernest Mugandani, said the procedure for one to acquire a mining licence for a claim is to register their consortium with the Ministry at their nearest offices and pay a fee for registration and then pegging would follow thereafter.
“They have to have a registered consortium if they are a grouping and if they are an individual or family they have to have a company name and visit our offices for further assistance,” Mugandani said.
