Women'sNet newsletter: 13 July 2012

Kgomotso Matsunyane and Oratile Moseki It is time to move on and consider the evidence on sex work. We are disappointed to note that the ANC Women’s League has decided to retract what appeared to be support for the decriminalisation of sex work, stating that “more engagement” on the issue was needed. While respecting their decision, SWEAT and our decriminalisation supporters say it’s about time the controversies plaguing the issue were dealt with. There is a shift in focus towards evidence that supports total decriminalisation, and we say that at the heart of these issues are sex worker voices, choices and needs. This information is supreme in that it comes from the experiences of the sex workers themselves. It is a little known fact that the ANC first seriously considered options to legalise sex work 18 years ago in 1996, when “decriminalisation” or alternatively “legalisation of sex work” was discussed.

I was two years old when the Berlin Wall came down. I have never been to Germany, but I understand that, after reunification, that country experienced many of the same stresses that we South Africans face today. People from the East and West who had been torn apart had to grow together again. But they did, and apart from extremist groups, all Germans now see themselves as part of one nation.

Here, talking about our separateness has become an art-form in itself. We spend more time critiquing the walls that divide us than trying to overcome them. We have become paralysed by an acknowledgement of deep-seated cultural and economic differences, yet often fail to recognise the obvious opportunities to connect to each other.

Just think of how mobile phones have improved communication and opened up new possibilities over the past decade. It’s an opportunity literally in our hands. But we’ve failed to grasp it to the full. Other countries have used mobile phones to link opportunity seekers to jobs, finances and further education. Here, cellphone providers penalise those who can only afford basic cellphones by charging higher rates for simpler technologies – like USSD – while the actual operating costs are next to nothing. I keep wondering whether big business is really serious about reuniting our country. I would like to take the CEO’s of Vodacom, MTN and Cell C with me to Rooigrond where I live, so they can understand the power that they have to change the lives of young people.

Ayanda Masondo died on 19 March 2012. She was 20 years old. A student at the University of Johannesburg, Masondo’s body was found leaning against the door in her room at the Benjemijn hostel. The cause of her death was complications from an illegal abortion.

Sadly, Masondo’s fate is all too common. Illegal abortions kill dozens of South African women every year[1].

According to the Saving Mothers report, published earlier this year by the National Committee on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths (NCCEMD), 4 867 maternal deaths were recorded between 2008 and 2010. 186 of those women died of a septic miscarriage in public healthcare facilities, 23 percent of which were the direct result of an unsafe abortion.

Although there is limited formal data on the subject, the number of deaths caused by unsafe abortion is likely far higher than recorded since the NCCEMD only took into account cases in public health facilities.