Mobile prostitution on the rise as sex workers get innovative due to low business

Beitbridge -The tight economic environment in the country is forcing businesses across all sectors to be innovative and seek new ways of attracting returns and the world's oldest profession, commercial sex work has not been spared of this move.

Faced with a decline in business in their traditional operational areas mostly liquor outlets and street corners, "ladies of the night" in the country have opted for a new market, the long distance truck drivers.

Confused by the influx of ladies around long distance trucks parking areas and hitch hiking spots at the border town of Beitbridge, this reporter decided to interview the ladies who revealed the new trend of business the ladies called "playing relays."

Playing relays involves having the ladies being hired by the long distance truck drivers normally cutting through the country from Beitbridge to other exit borders like Chirundu or Victoria Falls a journey that normally takes 12 to 16 hours over night. The ladies claim that the truck drivers hire them for entertainment over the long distance with continuous stop over at lay by resting places along the way for sexual sessions in the truck cabin.

The ladies claim that a single "relay" trip involving an overnight distance normally pays them between US$50 and US$60 with some lucky ones claiming to have at times managed to get $100 on a single trip which is usually a charge for a "return trip." The ladies who carry their luggage with them on the trip claim to manage to be away from home for a whole month running relays between the major centres in the country changing trucks.

"I stay in Chitungwidza and have not been home for the last three weeks as I am busy relaying between Beitbridge and Victoria Falls. Will go home at the end of the month when I have accumulated enough money to go and settle my family bills," said one lady who only wanted to be identified as Chipo.

A few of then claim to be in possession of passports and have been able to take longer relays to as far as Tanzania which they claim to be too risky. The long trips to DRC and Tanzania are said to be costing up to $250 as the travel sometimes stretches to about a week on the road due to delays at the borders.

One young lady who claimed to be only 23 and preferring to be called just Tendai described how she was once abused by drivers in Zambia who took turns to use her after she had left Beitbridge in one truck. She said that was her first and last trip across the border and now only concentrates on the local trips.

Tendai also told this reporter that she is missing one of her friends Sibongile who they left the country together on the trip to Tanzania in separate trucks over two months ago. She said she last saw after crossing the border in Victoria Falls and has never seen her since. Asked if she reported the matter to the police she claimed she can not report though she is convinced that something may have happened to her friend after crossing the borders.

Memory who is a little more mature in her late thirties claimed that relaying was normally not safe for the younger girls who truck drivers normally abuse and pay very little money sometimes nothing at all. Memory claims to have been playing relays for close to four years now and is very aware of all the tricks and risks involved in the business.

"Some of us have been in this game long enough and now know all the tricks involved. We demand payment before we leave and deposit the money in our mobile phone accounts to be safe from being robbed by the truck drivers," she said.

"Sometimes you get a very good client who will take care of you like his wife all the way with respect while at times you might get a rough one who will not even give you food or allow you to leave the truck for a bath. Some dump you half way along the journey when they find someone who they think is better than you or just because they will have had enough of you then you have to find your way back."

Asked why they are opting for the dangerous relaying, the ladies claim that men in the pubs no longer have disposable money and so can not afford to pay for their services. The ladies claim the truck drivers carry with them large amounts of money given as travel allowances. Some are said to be making a lot of money giving people rides on the way most of who will be traders with wares to be ferried in the trucks.

"The truck drivers make a lot of money on the road to pay for our services without complaining. They give lifts or even sale diesel from their trucks and give all that money to us for service," said one Nyarai from Norton in Harare.

A truck driver from Durban in South Africa confirmed that they are indeed engaging women in the exercise. The man claims to be driving frequently between Durban and DRC a journey which takes him more than a week and will so be forced to find companion from the ladies.

The man claims to be having his regular relay partners along the way. He says playing relays is safer than hoping to pick up a lady at every town he decides to put up for the night.

"I have my regular lady who I travel with from Durban to Messina and leave her there before getting my friend Chipo here to Chirundu then pick up my friend in Zambia who I leave at the Zambian border before crossing and then go on like that till I get to DRC," said the elderly driver who called himself Bhuti Ace.

Asked about the risks involved in the "game", Ace said they have no alternative as their employers refuse to allow them to take their wives on the trips and so resort to picking up ladies on the way as solace. Ace confirmed that a number of truck drivers have died of HIV related illnesses due to the relations they have on the road. Ace who claims to be in his fifteenth year as a long distance truck driver says the younger drivers die because they don't know how to play the game safely.

The National AIDS Council has previously confirmed a wide spread of HIV infections amongst the long distance truck drivers and the country's border towns have the the largest HIV infections in the country. South African police have also raised warnings of human trafficking involving a cartel of long distance truck drivers and ready "buyers " across the borders in the region.