•LUSAKA’S Soweto market

By  JOWIT SALUSEKI, GETHSEMANE MWIZABI and ETAMBUYU SANG’ANDU –

THE mere mention of Soweto, Masala and Chisokone markets in Lusaka, Ndola and Kitwe respectively to many, generates an imagination of unique trading places with much cheaper goods yet behind the scene some shops offer prohibited cheaper services-illicit sex.
As hordes of people flock to buy various goods that the markets offer, what some customers seem not to be aware of, is the existence of this unique illegal service which is criminalised by Zambian laws.
Under the guise of selling merchandise, some traders at the markets are using the shops as sex dens with clients being charged between K10 and K80 for what is referred to as short time service.
According to some sex workers, short time is a single encounter, while other services are negotiable depending on the venue and financial muscle of the patron.
However, traders familiar with the illicit happenings at the popular markets say some store owners masquerade as genuine business executives but behind the scenes use their shops as ‘brothels’ for that extra income.
Most of these shops used as brothels are those operate as warehouses at night but are empty during the day while other have remained vacant from merchandise specifically for sex business.
These kinds of business also rife at Kasumbalesa boarder post market where people use make shift warehouses locally known as depots.
Royda Namfukwe who sells second hand clothes, says some shops operating as ‘brothels’ open as early as 08:00hours in the morning and close late in the night, in order to accommodate as many clients as possible with most of the patrons coming from some named foreign countries.
She said illegal liquor stores that have continued unabated to operate at markets have also contributed to an increase in sexual immoralities as most patrons are using the shebeens as brothels whenever they get intoxicated with alcohol.
A check by Times revealed that the majority of the patrons are those that have come from far distant areas who have brought merchandise to sell before they go back.
Some with babies and older children have made these shops temporal homes, while they wait to finish selling their goods before they go back to their respective towns.
There are some who have abandoned their families, migrated and staying permanently at these markets.
“This is the more reason why these people mourn whenever there is a cleanup by the police and council. They cry that they have nowhere to go; it is true, because those coming from as far as Luapula will have difficulties going back. This is difficult, especially for men and women who have abandoned their families,” said one of the longest traders on condition of anonymity.
Besides these shops being sex hide ours, the trader said they are homes for some people.
The traders said it is for this reason why there are a lot of immoral activities because it free for all kind of community.
Moreover, some law enforcers such as the Zambia Police and council police patronise these areas.
The trader also alleged that some law enforcers even know where to find what they are looking in the areas because they are very familiar with the escapades. Alex Choongo, a carrier bag seller, says some stores have being operating as sex hide out for a long time much to the disgusting of traders and consumers at the market.
He however, urged the Lusaka City Council to carry out routine inspections on the stores in order to bring sanity to the trading area.
“The Lusaka City Council should start carrying out routine inspections so that they flash out these illegal traders who are operating ‘brothels’ at Soweto market. A market place should not be turned into a sex den … if people want to enjoy sexual pleasure its better they book for rooms at guest houses that all over Lusaka Town and stop using shops at the market’’, observed  Choongo.
Mabvuto Chipeta, who deals in second hand clothes at Soweto market says some Zambian traders who conduct their trade at the market organise women who come from named neighboring countries whom they charge between K10 and K50 depending on the duration of time the sex workers and their clients use the makeshift stores.
Lusaka City Council assistant public relations manager Brenda Katongola says the local authority would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
Ms Katongola says it is illegal under the local Government Act of No.7 of 2007 that governs markets and bus stations to operate brothels in markets.
‘’As Lusaka City Council we are not going to condone such illegalities in markets … a market  according to the local Government act No.7 of 2007 under cap 281 is suppose to be used as a trading area  where people can buy and sale goods and anything outside that is illegal’’, said  Ms Katongola .
She said the Lusaka City council will intensify its inspections in all markets places in Lusaka in order to bring sanity in the markets noting that those found to be operating brothels in Soweto will face the wrath of the law.
The story is similar at Ndola’s Masala Market where sex is traded openly.
There are some big stores which have been turned into guestrooms within the market where women parade around broad day light waiting to seal the deal from men who come to buy sex.
One of the receptionists at one of a named guestroom, said sex workers leaves their contacts at the reception under a tag “If you like, sex is just a callaway,”
“Some of them book rooms in advance and when they seal their deals with men, they straight head for the act,” she said.
The rooms are charged differently. A self-contained room cost K80 just for three hours. A non self-contained is K50 for the same hours.
Asked if she took part in the sex work, the ‘receptionist’ refused.
“I just link men to women who leave their numbers with me. I just want someone to marry me not engage in sex work,” she said.
However, there a high traffic of men and women coming in out of the rooms.
Some women have even camped there, in what Musician Petersen would say in one of his latest songs Cibelo ni capital meaning turning bodies into capital asset. Frequent clients include taxi drivers, office workers and those who prefer to sneak out from work for just a few hours to buy sex, shower up, and then return for work, as if nothing occurred.
Some men were free to pick any girl or woman they wanted from a group of women in an open room like shopping for clothes or other commodities.
Doing it the way brothels operate in countries where it is legal.
One of the sex worker found outside the rooms said she charges K80 sex with a condom while K200 for oral arrangement.
Asked if she was wary of the HIV/AIDS, she says she fully understood issues relating to the disease, however, there was nothing she could do about it because of the bondage of poverty.
The sprawling Chisokone Market in Kitwe, like many other highly patronised markets in the country, is another home to the infamous sex hideouts.
Here, the hide outs disguised as shebeens are dotted around the market, especially the second line from Kingston Street where hard-wares are mainly located.
While some sex hide outs have treaded cautiously so as to maintain their identity strictly under the guise of shebeens, one notorious known place has left it to the full knowledge of the public about the illicit sexual activities that is traded in broad daylight.
Moses Kaputula, a marketeer, had no regrets in exposing the ills at this place where he said the commercial sex was being traded with the full knowledge of relevant authorities.
“Ladies have camped at this place occupying all the rooms as they prospect for clients. Whatever time you go there you they have strategically positioned themselves inside the rooms and outside prospecting for clients,” he said.
A check at the venue found a high presence of ladies of difference ages, size, shape and complexion, who when approached, openly admitted that they were there for serious business and not play.
They women and girls even boasted of possessing the instinct to know which men offered lucrative business and those that just went for mere drink up.
Kitwe City Council (KCC) spokesperson Dorothy Sampa when contacted said the local authority was aware of the presence of brothel alike operating as shebeens at Chisokone Market and had started taking action to root them out.
“Recently we conducted a clean up exercise where a number of people engaged in the vice were rounded and their merchandise confiscated,” Ms Sampa said.
She called for the involvement of the general public in fight to eradicate vices such as the presence of sex hide outs in markets.
“The problem is that the same people operating choose to protect these culprits by hiding information to the council,” she said.
Chisenga Bungwa, a trader at the market, however said the heavy presence of sex hide out have influenced the increased demand for sexual boosters or enhancers because of too much sex almost everywhere and all the time.
Ms Bungwa claims that men, especially those in relationships or marriage have influenced the demand for sex boosters because they need to replenish the energy before meeting their partners or wives.
“This is to avoid the wives or partners to notice the performance disparity,” Ms Bungwa said
She says it is easy to notice the difference in the performance of a partner if he strayed, hence the move by many to take sex boosters so that they are not noticed.
Ms Bungwa, however, said it is difficult to completely close these sex hide out stores that operating as ‘brothels’ in the markets because it is alleged that some owners are influential people in society.
The owners of these stores know what goes but their interest is money as long as the one renting is remitting what belongs to them.
She claims that some of the influential owners are sometimes found patronising their shops what they look for is best known to them.
Recently, the media carried a story where the local authority in Kitwe swung into action to demolish makeshift stores that were operating as ‘brothels’ at Kitwe’s Bulangililo and Kwacha Townships markets.
Again last year about 137 sex workers were arrested in Solwezi for camping at lodges which they turned into brothels.
The owners of the lodges were warned that their licenses would be revoked should they have continued allowing their premises to be operated as brothels.
Moreover, there is no law that strictly deals with prostitution in Zambia.
According to Zambia Police Service spokesperson Charity Munganga, there is no specific law in Zambia that criminalises prostitution.
She says laws used in dealing with prostitution are those which relate to crimes against morality.
“These crimes against morality are also not specific to prostitution alone, they are also used when handling cases of defilement and rape,” she explained.
Ms Munganga noted that when the women involved in prostitution are arrested by the Police, they are charged with soliciting for immoral purposes, idling, or loitering.
North western police commissioner Eugene Sibote noted that sex workers had invaded various lodges  and guest houses in Solwezi  prompting Government  officials and those from the private sector facing accommodation challenges each time there was a workshop in the District.
Added to this in March this year, it was reported in the media that two
guest houses in Mazabuka Town were closed by the local council because the lodges were accommodating sex workers who were charging for services at the named lodges.
It is, however, difficult to clamp down illegal sex in Zambia because there is no strict law that deal with prostitution and the provisions which are there have weak penalties which allows the suspect to repeat the crime.
Non Government Organisations should lobby law makers to enact laws punitive measures that would curtail prostitution in Zambia.
There have been suggestions from some section of society that the country should take a leaf from Sweden and other countries that arrest men for buying sex.
This, to some, is a holistic approach to curtailing prostitution because it cuts down on the market that influence demand for the ‘commodity’