News / Local
Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road truck stops, a haven for prostitution
14 Mar 2025 at 06:46hrs | Views
Dressed in tight-fitting, body-revealing clothes that leave little to the imagination, two young women take turns knocking on the driver's side door of a haulage truck at Gwayi Shopping Centre, along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway.
It is the early hours of Friday morning at Gwayi Shopping Centre, a small leisure hub with nightclubs and bars, where revellers dancing the night away suggest that the night is far from over.
Some women can be seen milling around the makeshift truck stop, which has become a temporary rest zone for more than a dozen locally and foreign-registered haulage trucks.
After several attempts at knocking on the doors of four trucks, one of the women gets lucky when a truck driver opens his door, and she quickly hops in. Her companion continues scouting the area, most likely hoping for a similar opportunity with one of the remaining truckers.
A number of truck stops have sprung up along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, starting with one at Amakhosi Service Station in Bulawayo, followed by another at Bernice Business Centre.
Others are located at Insuza Shopping Centre, Kenmur Business Centre in St Luke's, Lupane Business Centre, Jotsholo Business Centre, and Gwayi Shopping Centre.
A Chronicle investigation into prostitution rings at these truck stops culminated at Cross Dete Business Centre, another key stop along the route.
"The women have taken soliciting for clients to another level," said an employee at a nightclub at Gwayi Shopping Centre.
"They knock on truck doors and openly tell the drivers that they are sex workers. For them, it's all about business and how much they can make by the end of the night," said a female employee, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mr. Norman Ngulube, a barman, explained that some sex workers have rented backyard rooms from homeowners in a suburb just behind the truck stop.
"Prostitution has become a way of life here at Gwayi Shopping Centre. What's worrying is that even young girls have joined the trade, selling their bodies to truck drivers, who always have cash and spend freely," he said.
As another truck pulled into the dusty and muddied trail that serves as a temporary rest zone, a teenage girl emerged from the shadows and started walking slowly between the parked trucks.
Her attempt to lure a client was unsuccessful, and she abandoned the mission, opting instead to try her luck inside a nightclub.
More and more trucks descended on the area, and before long, the small, dusty parking bay was congested.
"On a busy night, over 30 trucks park here overnight, and they usually start leaving as early as 4 a.m. The sex workers sleep during the day and only work after dark," added Mr. Ngulube.
Jotsholo Business Centre sits next to the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway and, during the day, is usually quiet and unremarkable. However, as night falls, it transforms into an infamous hub for high-level prostitution.
A Chronicle news crew observed girls as young as 15 years old roaming the business centre at night. The place has effectively been turned into a red-light district.
Even older men, particularly truck drivers, prey on vulnerable teenage girls to satisfy their insatiable sexual appetites.
At Cross Dete Business Centre, one of the many truck stops the Chronicle visited at night, a woman named Mary (not her real name) explained how her rates vary depending on whether the client wants a brief encounter or an extended trip.
"When we conduct our business in the truck, we call it a ‘short time.’ If the driver asks me to join him on a trip to Hwange and back, that is known as a ‘full night.’ A short time costs US$5, while a full night is US$30," said Mary.
She said she rents a house at Cross Dete Business Centre but conducts all of her business strictly in haulage trucks.
"I don't want to expose my two young children to the kind of work I do. My younger sister knows what I do and takes care of the kids in my absence, but I don't want her near the truck stop," she said.
Mary added that she does not want her younger sister to be enticed by the money that older men flash around to lure young girls into prostitution.
She pointed at a teenage girl nearby and said: "That girl stopped going to school and joined her older sister at the truck stop in January."
A study conducted by the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children between 2015 and 2016 found that truck drivers plying major routes such as the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway fuel child prostitution by targeting schoolchildren and teenage sex workers.
In 2010, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched a project on Economic Empowerment and HIV Vulnerability Reduction along Transport Corridors in Southern Africa.
This initiative aimed to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic by empowering sex workers to start self-sustaining income-generating projects.
The project seeks to combat HIV/AIDS through economic empowerment in the transport sector by mobilising co-operatives and community-based organisations.
According to the ILO, the programme's primary objective is to mobilise tripartite constituents and other strategic partners to contribute to reducing HIV infections and mitigating the impact of AIDS.
This is achieved through sustainable prevention measures, improved livelihood strategies, access to care and support structures, and initiatives involving affected grassroots communities, transport sector workers, and their families.
It is the early hours of Friday morning at Gwayi Shopping Centre, a small leisure hub with nightclubs and bars, where revellers dancing the night away suggest that the night is far from over.
Some women can be seen milling around the makeshift truck stop, which has become a temporary rest zone for more than a dozen locally and foreign-registered haulage trucks.
After several attempts at knocking on the doors of four trucks, one of the women gets lucky when a truck driver opens his door, and she quickly hops in. Her companion continues scouting the area, most likely hoping for a similar opportunity with one of the remaining truckers.
A number of truck stops have sprung up along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, starting with one at Amakhosi Service Station in Bulawayo, followed by another at Bernice Business Centre.
Others are located at Insuza Shopping Centre, Kenmur Business Centre in St Luke's, Lupane Business Centre, Jotsholo Business Centre, and Gwayi Shopping Centre.
A Chronicle investigation into prostitution rings at these truck stops culminated at Cross Dete Business Centre, another key stop along the route.
"The women have taken soliciting for clients to another level," said an employee at a nightclub at Gwayi Shopping Centre.
"They knock on truck doors and openly tell the drivers that they are sex workers. For them, it's all about business and how much they can make by the end of the night," said a female employee, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mr. Norman Ngulube, a barman, explained that some sex workers have rented backyard rooms from homeowners in a suburb just behind the truck stop.
"Prostitution has become a way of life here at Gwayi Shopping Centre. What's worrying is that even young girls have joined the trade, selling their bodies to truck drivers, who always have cash and spend freely," he said.
As another truck pulled into the dusty and muddied trail that serves as a temporary rest zone, a teenage girl emerged from the shadows and started walking slowly between the parked trucks.
Her attempt to lure a client was unsuccessful, and she abandoned the mission, opting instead to try her luck inside a nightclub.
More and more trucks descended on the area, and before long, the small, dusty parking bay was congested.
"On a busy night, over 30 trucks park here overnight, and they usually start leaving as early as 4 a.m. The sex workers sleep during the day and only work after dark," added Mr. Ngulube.
A Chronicle news crew observed girls as young as 15 years old roaming the business centre at night. The place has effectively been turned into a red-light district.
Even older men, particularly truck drivers, prey on vulnerable teenage girls to satisfy their insatiable sexual appetites.
At Cross Dete Business Centre, one of the many truck stops the Chronicle visited at night, a woman named Mary (not her real name) explained how her rates vary depending on whether the client wants a brief encounter or an extended trip.
"When we conduct our business in the truck, we call it a ‘short time.’ If the driver asks me to join him on a trip to Hwange and back, that is known as a ‘full night.’ A short time costs US$5, while a full night is US$30," said Mary.
She said she rents a house at Cross Dete Business Centre but conducts all of her business strictly in haulage trucks.
"I don't want to expose my two young children to the kind of work I do. My younger sister knows what I do and takes care of the kids in my absence, but I don't want her near the truck stop," she said.
Mary added that she does not want her younger sister to be enticed by the money that older men flash around to lure young girls into prostitution.
She pointed at a teenage girl nearby and said: "That girl stopped going to school and joined her older sister at the truck stop in January."
A study conducted by the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children between 2015 and 2016 found that truck drivers plying major routes such as the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway fuel child prostitution by targeting schoolchildren and teenage sex workers.
In 2010, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched a project on Economic Empowerment and HIV Vulnerability Reduction along Transport Corridors in Southern Africa.
This initiative aimed to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic by empowering sex workers to start self-sustaining income-generating projects.
The project seeks to combat HIV/AIDS through economic empowerment in the transport sector by mobilising co-operatives and community-based organisations.
According to the ILO, the programme's primary objective is to mobilise tripartite constituents and other strategic partners to contribute to reducing HIV infections and mitigating the impact of AIDS.
This is achieved through sustainable prevention measures, improved livelihood strategies, access to care and support structures, and initiatives involving affected grassroots communities, transport sector workers, and their families.
Source - The Herald
