GaloomE Shopane
“I already have a domestic worker at home who is paid by the department of public works, but I will take this lady and pay her out of my own pocket,” the Deputy Minister of Police, Makhotso Sotyu, told Dimpho* at the Free State Provincial crime summit at Philip Saunders, a few weeks ago. Dimpho is an unemployed mother of six. She cried while telling her embarrassing and desperate story. When she heard the Deputy Minister’s words being received with a resounding applause from the crowd, she cried even more. The deputy minister’s words came to Dimpho’s ears like refreshing rain, bringing hope to Dimpho’s dry and painful life.
Courant thought we could do a beautiful human interest story about a reformed prostitute getting her life back on track, only to find that life for Dimpho is still the same. When Courant contacted the deputy minister’s spokesperson, Nomsa Hani, for response on the matter, she requested that an affidavit with Dimpho stating that she indeed was promised a job by the deputy minister be sent to her. Courant then sent her an audio clip with the deputy minister’s voice promising Dimpho the job. The response from Hani then concurred that the deputy minister had indeed promised Dimpho a job, but this time around it was no longer for the deputy minister’s own household, but for her sister who is blind.
“Unfortunately, the process of employing Dimpho needs to be delayed for a bit due to the fact that the deputy minister of police’s blind sister has just taken seriously ill and is now in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Bloemfontein hospital. "As you might appreciate, this situation is BEYOND ANYBODY’S POWER as no one knows when one will get gravely ill or die,” an email from Hani stated.
Dimpho, a conservative woman, defies any stereotype picture of a prostitute. She doesn’t put on make-up or wear skimpy, short outfits. She does not make enough money to splurge on such things. For many looking from the outside, and some on the inside, prostitution is a means to making a quick buck. But for many inside this trade, like Dimpho, this is the only and ultimate choice, it is survival sex. You don’t have to like what you do; you just have to do it in order to survive.
“I want to leave what I am doing because it is not safe. I am just doing it for my children to have something to eat,” she explains. But this daunting task sometimes seems to be a fruitless course of action as she only makes between R10 and R100 a day and nothing more.”
* Pseudonym used.
galoome@centralmediagroup.co.za
