By Correspondent
Aid jargon calls prostitution a ‘negative coping mechanism’, a desperate but effective way to get by.
In Harare’s Avenues area sex workers have managed to survive all manner of economic upheavals and continue getting by.
This has been despite constant operations by authorities to wipe off the trade.
Crackdowns on prostitution have been a staple of Zimbabwe police departments for decades.
The earliest in memory was in the 1980s with Operation Chinyavada (“Scorpion”).
It rounded up prostitutes in the early years after independence from British colonial rule.
After a long hiatus, police resumed the crackdowns, starting with Chipo Chiroorwa (“Chipo Get Married”).
Another one, Operation Chengetedza Hunhu (“Maintain Your Dignity”) also failed to kill the trade.
Operation Dyira Bonus Kumba (“Take Your Bonus Money Home”) launched during the festive season failed again.
In February 2013 the ZRP launched “No to Loitering”.
On the first day, the campaign netted 60 people charged with soliciting for the purposes of prostitution.
Staying Power
However a decade later sex workers are still there in the Avenues area from morning through the night.
Although the police have deployed many strategies to rid the city of prostitution, they have so far failed to stymie the world’s oldest profession.
According to Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), 59,6% of women in the country are unemployed.Some of them have resultantly turned to commercial sex work to eke out a living.
A report by National AIDS Council (NAC) titled, ‘Zimbabwe situational analysis of drug use in five provinces to inform HIV and TB programming for people who use drugs’, revealed that Harare had the highest number of commercial sex workers.
“In Harare the most often mentioned source of income is sex work (36,07%).
“The higher rate in this province is linked to the mobilisation strategy, which include recruitment of respondents in an area where sex work takes place,” it says.
With the economy still struggling and many remaining unemployed it’s apparent the Avenues trade is here to stay.