‘How I became a sex worker’

A Sivewright Street sex worker answered some of the questions they are asked most frequently and also explained how she became a ‘lady of the night’ in Krugersdorp’s drug hub.

Mr Luckycharm, the news’ trusty informer met up with news journalist Marizka Coetzer in the parking lot of a fast food outlet.

“I recall saying to Mr Luckycharm how nervous I felt as we slowing entered Sivewright under the watchful eyes of Nigerian nationals on practically every street corner waiting for a new client,” said Coetzer.

“As we climbed the stairs to the first floor of the block of flats, I couldn’t help but feel scared.”

Mr Luckycharm knocked on Tammy’s door with Coetzer standing out of sight, not wanting to intrude.

When Tammy finally opened the door, she looked out the safety gate and greeted Coetzer with the most beautiful smile.

“Surprised, I entered her very tidy room. The walls are decorated with magazine pull-outs and there is a Bible in the corner.”

There was a knock on the door and Tammy started putting away all her needles and small plastic bags before opening for one of her regular clients, who had just dropped off his wife before coming to ‘visit’.

Coetzer and Mr Luckycharm decided to give Tammy space to go about her business and they continued to explore Sivewright.

“After meeting up with Tammy again a bit later, we decided to go and celebrate her birthday since she hasn’t had a chocolate milkshake in ages. She grabbed my hand as we crossed the busy Luipaard Street.

“We then went to a local business in town where I eventually got to interview her in a stuffy store room.”

Explaining to Coetzer how she has battled with drug addiction most her life since her mother was also an addict, she took yet another drag of the ‘rocks’ she bought with the money she got earlier.

“I let her smoke because it seemed to calm her and helped her to open up.”

In the intimate yet explicit interview she revealed how the death of her 10-month-old baby destroyed her marriage and left her homeless.

“And then he took me in,” said Tammy who has been living with a Nigerian national for the past seven years.

After a few months she was instructed to work the streets to pay for her own drugs.

“I cried myself to sleep for the first two weeks because I didn’t grow up like this.”

Ironically she mentioned that her drug-addict mother used to send her and her brother to buy drugs for her and recalled how, on many occasions, her brother had to swallow the drugs to avoid being caught.

“One thing led to the other – you cannot stand on the street and sell your body and feel good about yourself without drugs.”

She said she’d tried more than five times to come clean, but it is impossible when you live in Sivewright.

Coetzer was shocked when she was told about the worst experiences Tammy has had as a sex worker.

“I was abducted by a client who did horrible things to me. He violated my human rights. I had to sit and watch how he raped a dog and afterwards killed it. He then tried to drown me.”

Some of the horrific things she told Coetzer shocked her beyond belief, and are of such an explicit nature that it cannot be published.

After taking another drag from her pipe, she recalled the day a client tried to have anal sex with her and she refused.

He then pushed her from the vehicle and drove off, leaving her without pants in the middle of nowhere.

She was very excited though that she tested negative for Aids the previous day.

When Coetzer asked how many men she had slept with, she simply answered, “millions”. She then explained how she believes that you give a piece of your soul to the one you sleep with.

After spending nearly two hours in the slums the news dropped Tammy off close to her flat.

As she gathered her things to get out of the vehicle, Coetzer noticed a piece of condom on the floor.

“Jokingly I told her not to leave her clients’ scraps behind. What she said next, struck me deeply.”

She explained that she used the top part of the condom to tie her hair because she did not have proper hair elastics.

“I had mixed emotions as I left the slums. The most profound moment was walking down Sivewright Street with her in her crop top and grey fur jacket, with her arm hooked to mine, proudly saying: ‘If you’ve got it, flaunt it,’ .”

At that moment Coetzer saw past the scars on her arms and legs and past the heroin veins.

“For a brief moment I saw a beautiful soul trapped in a broken body and in an unforgiving drug slum guarded by the demons of the night who not only are killing her slowly, but also our beautiful community.”

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