Sex workers: #FunkItImWalking protest renews calls for decriminalisation
Sex workers and supporters joined the #FunkItImWalking protest in Johannesburg Thursday, calling for the decriminalisation of sex work.
“For as long as the state criminalises sex workers, who are adults working to sustain their families, there is no freedom,” says Katlego Rasebitse of Sisonke sex workers advocacy group.
He joined about 80 people from various sex workers’ rights groups and supporters who gathered at the Beyers Naude Square in Johannesburg for the #FunkItImWalking on Thursday.
They walked to Constitution Hill singing struggle songs and chanting “Funk it I’m walking! Let’s walk to freedom”, drawing the attention of bystanders in the inner city. The walk was organised as a collaboration between Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), Sisonke and the Asijiki Coalition.
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Nhlanhla Gwendoline Sibanda is a sex worker who has been unable to make enough money during the Covid-19 lockdown to pay rent and other expenses.
She moved onto an empty property in the upmarket suburb of Dunkeld West last year. She lives with about 50 other people, some of whom claim to be living there for over two decades.
“Our industry really suffered last year. I lost my income and had to find another place to stay,” she said. There is no running water on the property.
The occupiers were evicted earlier this month on the basis of an interdict. But, represented by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), the occupiers challenged the eviction in the high court in Johannesburg. The court ruled on 9 April that the eviction was unlawful. The occupiers were then allowed to move back. SERI argued that the eviction was illegal because it was done without a court order.