News

World Cup to draw 40 000 hookers to SA

March 05, 2010 Edition 3

Kenichi Serino

As many as 40 000 women are expected to arrive in South Africa ahead of the World Cup to work as prostitutes, according to the Central Drug Authority (CDA).

"Forty-thousand new prostitutes. As if we do not have enough people of our own, we have to import them to ensure that our visitors are entertained," CDA deputy chairman David Bayever said in Pretoria yesterday at the release of the International Narcotics Control Board's annual report.

He said the agency had been warned by the eThekwini metropolitan municipality of the possibility of huge inflows. "They got wind of it."

Many of the women were likely to be recruited from eastern Europe.

Bayever also warned that the extension of school holidays during the soccer tournament would put children at risk of being lured into sex work.

"Our youth are going to be on holiday. They are going to be targeted to become prostitutes."

The CDA is a statutory body that provides advice on drug and substance abuse to the Social Development Department.

Bayever said substance and drug abuse were intertwined with prostitution. Drugs and alcohol were sometimes used to keep people in sex work.

"There's a correlation between drugs and human trafficking."

UN Office on Drugs and Crime national project co-ordinator for trafficking Johan Kruger agreed that there was a connection between sex work and substance abuse.

But he refrained from endorsing the estimate of 40 000 women entering the country, saying: "I'm not sure where that comes from."

During the World Cup in Germany In 2006, many had expected human trafficking to increase.

"It actually decreased because of the preparation of law enforcement," said Kruger.

He cautioned against too much focus on the World Cup as drugs and human trafficking had been present in South Africa before the event and would be here long after the tourists had left.

"After 2010, illicit, organised crime will continue."

However, South Africa would face an uphill battle in combating trafficking of both drugs and people, Kruger said.

He said tackling the problem required co-operation on an international level. "It's very difficult to combat this crime if is only addressed by one country." - Sapa