Prostitution under the Sexual Offences Act in South Africa: A Constitutional Test

The paper aims at tackling the international instruments that address the issue of prostitution as it relates to the right to work as enshrined in the South African Constitution. The South African Constitution is the ultimate standard against which proposals for reforming the law on prostitution must be measured. Prostitutes should be afforded those particular human rights that are extended to women under international treaties and the South African Constitution. On this premise, it is obvious to state that sex workers are firstly human beings before they can be labeled prostitutes, which means they deserve to be treated equally as human beings. They are only rendered vulnerable to abuse by the type of work that they engage in. However, the supreme law of the country (the Constitution) expressly states that every citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely; but the practice of a trade, occupation or profession may be regulated by law. This should be taken to include the sex workers. They should be free to engage in their practice for as long as they enter the industry voluntarily. The security agents may only be involved where one is compelled to enter into prostitution, which will then mean that they would be dealing with the one who compels the sex worker to enter into the industry and not the sex worker herself. In this case the sex worker would be a victim in need of protection.