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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
MS Belinda Sibanda (not real name), is a 39-year-old widowed mother of two who has literally committed her life to sex work to eke a living.

Ms Sibanda says she has almost given up any hope of getting married again as no serious suitor has approached her since the death of her husband almost a decade ago.

The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded her woes forcing her to join a bandwagon of other women into sex work at Victoria Falls Truck Stop.

She resides with her 12-year-old daughter in Mkhosana while the eldest child lives elsewhere with a relative.

She was based in South Africa doing menial jobs before lockdown which locked her in Victoria Falls when she had visited last year.

She is one of the many sex workers that target truck drivers for sex in Victoria Falls but life has however, not been rosy as “business” is low because of lockdown.

Some can go for a week without getting a client while others sometimes fight over a customer.

A Chronicle news crew visited the Truck Stop during the week to observe how sex workers go about their business and spoke to a few who were willing to open up albeit anonymously.

Truck drivers were not willing to talk about the issue.

There were about half-a-dozen skimpily dressed women standing next to the truck stop entrance at around 7PM but the number increased to about 30 around 10pm. Most of the women were without masks.

The place is crowded at night because those who used to operate at various night clubs such as Mukali, Sports Bar, Comfort and Brown Sugar have relocated to truck stop.

The Chronicle learnt that some are teenagers while others are married women who leave their homes to sell goods including food and beer or to look for piece jobs to do laundry but end up in sex work.

The news crew stood at a distance for some time observing the goings. Trucks kept trickling into the car park as drivers sought to rest overnight.

The women were in small groups of four or five usually made up of friends and could be heard lamenting lack of business saying “imota ziyangena kodwa o-driver bakhona kabacaci (Trucks keep coming but the drivers seem not interested)”.

Some drivers can be seen walking out of the truck stop and embracing some of the women but walk away afterwards.

After a while, the news crew begins to chat with a group of five women comprising Ms Sibanda and her friends Ms Thandiwe Nyoni and Ms Kubotu Muleya (also not real names) who initially claimed to be vending but later opened up saying they were sex workers.

Their biggest fear is not Covid-19 or HIV and Aids, but police who they said usually raid and fine them US$10 each for unnecessary movement.

So they scurry for cover in the nearby bush unmindful of being attacked by wild animals or snakes whenever police patrol the area.

“I am here because I have a child to take care of. My husband died leaving me with two children and I stay with one of them. I was in South Africa and got locked here last year hence I joined this trade to eke a living.

“Business is very low and sometimes we can go for a week without a single client hence it’s difficult to raise money for rent and I will leave and go back when lockdown and corona ends,” said Ms Sibanda.

She said some clients prefer to use their trucks for sex.

“The challenge is that woman are not allowed inside the truck stop. At home we also have challenges with landlords who don’t allow different men into their houses and once caught you are given a notice of eviction. So in most cases we sneak them in because we have to raise money for rent,” narrated Ms Sibanda.

Some pay US$2 bribe to truck stop security guards to sneak into trucks.

They have set US$5 for short time and between US$10 and US$15 which is equivalent to 200 kwacha or 200 rand per night.

Because of lockdown some drivers now pay between 50 kwacha or 100 kwacha for a night.

Some drivers have earned nicknames with some being called inkume (scorpions) for paying less.

Ms Muleya (30) said she became a sex worker because she has not found anyone to marry her and she has to take care of her siblings in her rural home.

Ms Nyoni, aged 31 said she wishes to get married one day.

“I started coming here two years ago to sell some goods and that’s when I met a driver who had become my permanent client until he changed route to go to Tanzania last year. He used to take care of me and I would not come here for sex work but now the situation is bad because of the lockdown.

“I would sometimes travel with him outside the country,” said Ms Nyoni.

She says experience has taught her not to have more than one client per trucking company to avoid shame.

Ms Nyoni said although she is a sex worker, she still needs to maintain self-respect in the public domain.

“This business is not amusing as you have to sleep with someone you know you don’t love at all. Some clients force you to entertain them and you just do it for the sake of money. I would not encourage anyone to leave her marriage for the sake of this trade, it’s like a food chain because there is conflict. We wish bars could be opened so that those who used to operate from there can go back because they drink beer and get violent afterwards thereby disturbing business.

“I also feel sorry for some teenagers who have joined this because they are some drivers who insist on wanting unprotected sex. We are grateful to North Star Alliance and CESHHAR who give us condoms,” said Ms Nyoni.

The sex workers said they wish they would one day form an association that would fight for their rights.

Truck drivers and sex workers, regarded as key populations, get sexual reproductive health services from a nearby North Star Alliance Clinic where Centre for Sexual Health and HIV and Aids Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR) is also located.

North Star Alliance site coordinator and lay councillor Ms Juliana Muskwe said: “They were affected by lockdown and we supported them with food hampers but that later failed because of logistical challenges hence they have leant to live in the resilience zone. Sometimes there is conflict but we have encouraged them to do business like vending or doing laundry for the drivers because life is difficult for them since there are no clients.”

The clinic has been distributing masks, sanitisers and Covid-19 information to them.

CeSHHAR representative Ms Rumbidzai Mapfumo said the organisation helps sex workers with clinical needs on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Child Care. — @ncubeleon.