Self-proclaimed ‘pleasure executive’ and mother of two, Mbali Phakathi (38), believes her profession is widely misunderstood and unfairly judged.

“We are entertainers and we are often seen as marriage counsellors. Believe it or not, our services have actually saved many marriages, not broken them,” she said.

Mbali’s greatest wish is for people to stop mistreating them because of how they earn a living, and instead take time to get to know the women and men behind the job title. She hopes people will understand that they are human beings who have often been dealt harsher blows in life than most.

Where it all began:

Mbali entered the profession in 2011 after her life took a turn for the worse and she needed money to provide for her two children.

Her mother died unexpectedly in 2002, leaving Mbali and her siblings in the care of their grandmother, the family’s matriarch. Struggling to cope with her mother’s death, Mbali turned to alcohol and partying instead of attending school.

Despite her grandmother’s best efforts to guide her, Mbali eventually left school, a decision she now deeply regrets.

In 2008, disaster struck again when her grandmother also passed away unexpectedly, leaving a void Mbali says she is still battling to fill.

“She was our pillar and took care of all of us. She made sure we had a roof over our heads and food on the table. When she passed away, we had to fend for ourselves and figure out how to survive without her,” she said.

Becoming a ‘pleasure executive’:

Mbali said her curiosity about the profession was piqued when she noticed a friend was making good money but would not explain how.

“She would take me out every Friday night and had no problem paying for our drinks. I didn’t understand what she did for work at the time, although I had my suspicions. I put two and two together one Friday when she left me at the shebeen, saying she was quickly going out to make more money for us to continue partying,” she said.

When her friend did not return, she left the bar to look for her.

That’s when she saw women standing along Harding Street and began asking questions about their work.

“I saw so much that night while looking for my friend. I saw these women being chased by police, sprayed with water by fire engines and running for their lives every time they saw a police van,” she said.

She later confronted her friend and asked if she could join her. At first, her friend refused, but Mbali eventually found her own way by befriending other workers in the area.

According to Mbali, the money she earned was sent to Mpumalanga to support her two children, who were living with their paternal relatives.

“I must also say that although we were making a lot of money back then, the police made life difficult for us and we constantly feared for our lives. We were harassed, chased and even beaten by law enforcement. I remember one time a fire engine pulled up and sprayed us with hoses. The force of the water was so strong that it sent me flying backwards. I had never been so scared in my life,” she recalled.

A fear of not seeing the light of day:

Mbali said being a pleasure executive has become even more dangerous as attacks and robberies have increased in the central business district.

“There is not a night that goes by that one of us is not attacked, robbed or harmed in some way by groups of gangsters terrorising workers and homeless people in the area. They have not only attacked us, but they regularly rape us and have also murdered more than one girl working in the area,” she said.

“We report these incidents, but nothing really comes from it. We do not see regular patrols at night and we don’t see any real effort when we report these attacks. It is as if our lives are less valuable than others because for us, justice is never served.”

Mbali’s one wish is for the broader community to stop treating them ‘as less than human ‘because of the jobs they do.

“If you get to know us, you’d realise that some of us are really talented. We can cook, draw and create things; it’s just that we don’t get the same opportunities as others. People take one look at us and run the other way instead of giving us a chance to better our lives.”
She continued: “Most of us would do anything to leave this profession and find other ways of making money, but we are not given the opportunity. So we continue doing what we do because, at the end of the day, we still need to provide for our families.

“We are not bad people. We are human beings, we are mothers, we are daughters and we are, for the most part, the only breadwinners in our families. Yes, our job is different to yours, but we are good people. We do not hurt anyone; we simply do our jobs and go about our lives. We are not asking for much. We are simply asking that you get to know us before you judge us,” she concluded.

The news provided to you in this link has been investigated and compiled by the editorial staff of the Newcastle Advertiser, a sold newspaper distributed in the Newcastle area. Please follow us on Youtube and feel free to like, comment, and subscribe. For more local news, visit our webpage, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and follow us on our WhatsApp Channel