Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT)

SWEAT was a birth child of the early nineties, its origin capturing the excitement and hope that went with the transition from apartheid to democracy and a constitution respecting human rights. Work with sex workers began as a social work student action under the guidance of Gay Association of South Africa and UCT social work department in 1990. Shane Petzer, a male sex worker and the founding member of SWEAT, drove forward the work which in 1994 developed into a project of ASET [AIDS Support, Education and Training] with the purpose of establishing a non-governmental service organisation focusing on safer sex educational work with adult sex workers. With the expansion of work SWEAT became independent in 1996, and registered as a non-profit organisation.