Sex Trade AT The World Cup Host City

A few miles from the soccer stadiums and tourist-packed hotels, Caroline Misavas is spending the World Cup selling her body.

She stands among clusters of a half-dozen girls in the heart of Johannesburg’s decaying Central Business District. Sex costs as little as $5. A night is $50. Ms. Misavas wears a female condom to protect against HIV.

The prediction that 40,000 prostitutes would move to South Africa for the World Cup has been widely discredited by statisticians and activists. Even if the numbers aren’t as high as projected, some have still come.

Their stories show how the razzle-dazzle of international sports can spark big dreams in the minds of a few people who are down on their luck, especially in a place as poor as Africa.

Established prostitutes who live in a city full-time no longer need a sidewalk. They have newspaper ads, websites and a network of cell-phone contacts. But foreign women who don’t know their way around South Africa have no choice but to walk the streets.

Ms. Misavas, a 28-year-old grade school teacher, fled a violent husband and Zimbabwe’s wrecked economy. Her friend told her about the World Cup. She got on a bus.

A car passes a prostitute standing on a curb in April in the city of Durban in South Africa.

“It was the situation that forced me to do this,” she said on a recent night, over a dinner of chicken burgers and fries. “I had never done this before.”

She hopes to earn enough money, around $10,000, to go back home and open a clothing store, she said. A man she called her boyfriend pays her rent of $45 a week. Her take so far: around $2,000.

She has three kids, two who live with her mother in Zimbabwe, one who stays with her in Johannesburg. She isn’t sure yet what she’ll do when the World Cup is over.

Once in a while, the police come to arrest some of the girls. They fine them $30. Ms. Misavas hasn’t yet been arrested. Activists say prostitution should be legal in South Africa, so they can work with women to prevent the spread of HIV and help some escape prostitution.

Lirato Nare, a friend of Ms. Misavas who moved here from Zimbabwe in 2006, said immigrant prostitutes represent many African countries. “There’s a block for the Tanzanians, a block for the Congolese, a block for the Zimbabweans,” she said.

Business on the streets has been up since visitors started arriving for the World Cup, but only a little bit. During games, Ms. Misavas noted, “there are fewer customers.”

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Posted: at 30-06-2010 12:56 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac

No wonder nigerian team left early. At least, they showed their build,
have some fun and then off they go. Dis southy people self, y dem go go allow
dis kind fine things near those areas, wen dem know say 9ja motto na, 2face
slang==NOTHIN DEY HAPPEN, mainwhile, lets ask the guy that was sent off
this simple question::::y dat act???     We will never know, but come to think of
it, i believe they met somewhere before the game.

Posted: at 1-07-2010 08:56 AM (13 years ago) | Newbie

very cheap like what it used to be before

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Posted: at 1-07-2010 11:23 PM (13 years ago) | Addicted Hero

na wa o

Posted: at 2-07-2010 09:13 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac

@mallorca i don dey suspect u...............................ibu di ndi akwuna?

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Posted: at 4-07-2010 05:06 AM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac

we are all suspects untill proven innocent

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Posted: at 4-07-2010 02:40 PM (13 years ago) | Addicted Hero

oga wetin i do na?

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Posted: at 4-07-2010 04:33 PM (13 years ago) | Addicted Hero

ok

Posted: at 4-07-2010 05:07 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac