By SAM PHIRI –

SEX workers, mainly operating from roadside slots in Lusaka, have recorded one of the worst business seasons in the past few weeks as they cannot freely go out for  fear of being victims of ritual murders.
A check by this reporter on one of the  roads in Long Acres, which is usually crammed with sex workers, around 22:45 hours on a Friday night,  surprisingly found only two prostitutes who were hesitant to come close to the parked vehicle.
“How many are you in the car first? Open the windows,” one of them asked and demanded from a distance as the other watched carefully, while following the colleague behind.
Asked why the unusual hesitation and questions, one of them, who only introduced herself Beatrice, said it was no longer safe to do business as the ritual killers were on the loose and would easily go for them.
“I can’t come into the car where there are more than two men, I don’t know what you may be up to if not killing me for some body parts,” she said.
Most of her colleagues had completely stopped coming on the streets, but had relocated to cheap guest houses where they would rent rooms and do business from.
She said roadsides were better than guest houses as one would spend nothing and also get quick business.
Beatrice also complained that Police officers who were patrolling the city did not spare them once found on the streets after 22:00 hours.
She claimed that in some cases she and some of her friends would pay the admission of guilt fee in kind before being set free by the law enforcers.
A check at one of the named guest houses in Soweto Market, found all rooms fully booked with most of them paid upfront for a month.
According to one sex worker, Evelyn Sakala, found at the guest house, the prices of the rooms were even hiked by K10:00 due to the high demand for the rooms mainly by sex workers.
“In most cases we are three or even four paying for a single room and if one has a client, we give her chance to do her business, but if it is an overnight client then she has to contribute a bigger amount towards the room charge,” she said.
Lusaka has in the past weeks witnessed ugly scenes including ransacking of foreigners’ shops  on suspicion that they were behind the six recorded suspected retail murders.