Numerous other sex work allegations within student environments in Auckland Park have surfaced as a result of the front page story about Laborie Village in Northcliff Mellville Times of 2 May. The question then arises, how widespread is this behaviour among students?
Malibu Estate Agent Hettie Boshoff is aware of similar behaviour in a nearby suburb.
“I see this in Brixton for a fact,” Boshoff said. Boshoff remembers one student who had an older man in her room.
“I said introduce me to your dad, I have never met him and she said no, it’s one of my boyfriends.”
Boshoff worries that this type of behaviour affects property values.
“When tongues start wagging, it will affect the value of property because one rotten apple affects the rest.”
“I think that there is a lot of it going on,” Boshoff concluded.
According to the Linden police station spokesperson Constable Carol Mulamu, prostitution is illegal in South Africa and the perpetrators are brought to justice and fined in court.
“A number of illegal brothels in the area have been closed down and suspects were arrested in all these incidents,” Mulamu said.
“The unemployment rate in our country has contributed to such behavior or activities.”
Northcliff-based women’s life coach Semoni de Villiers said most women engage in prostitution because of lack of self-worth. She asserted that prostitution is linked to a person’s background. De Villiers added that people may engage in prostitution because they lack psychological emancipation to understand their value and self-worth.
“Most of the time [those who sell their bodies] are desperate and not qualified to do anything else,” said de Villiers.
De Villiers believes education is an easy way out of various social ills.
“If we start talking about what other options people have, we can combat [prostitution],” de Villiers concluded.
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