January 30, 2008
DON’T CREATE A LEGAL AVENUE FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN 2010

EMBARGO: Immediate Release
Date: 31 January 2008
Enquiries: Diana Ruschenbaum
Mobile: +27 83 273 1302

Doctors for Life International would suggest that the ANC take disciplinary action against George Lekgetho on grounds of blatant gender discrimination – i.e. telling our young women and men that selling yourself for sex is acceptable as long as you pay tax.

DFL is appalled at the ANC’s Lekgetho’s call to legalize prostitution for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Lekgetho told the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture that, “we hear of many rapes, because people don’t have access to them [women]”and that “if sex working is legalized people would not do things in the dark.” “That would bring us tax”, he continued. Lekgetho’s motive and justification for legalizing prostitution appears to be the financial reward that can be gained by the state. Profiting from other people’s misfortune is a reprehensible example of selfishness. Prostitution is human trafficking and modern day slavery that should be stamped out - not controlled and taxed.

We would appeal to anybody who can protect our youth from such leaders that promote and want to legalise woman and child abuse. A significant percentage of prostitutes suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Research indicates that a prostitute that has several clients per day, experiences the same mental trauma as a women that has been raped, each time she has a different client. Does Lekgetho think that rape should not be punished as a crime? Such a suggestion flies in the face of the fundamental rights of freedom, equality and human dignity. Whether rape is done in the darkness or in the light, it remains a violation of a person’s human dignity.

Research has shown that the greater the availability of prostitutes the greater the demand for their services. Making it legal will only promote this inherently anti-family practice – the vast majority of the clientele of prostitutes are married men.

Doctors for Life International (DFL) is an association of more than 1500 medical doctors across South Africa and the globe. DFL is actively involved in safe exit programmes for people in prostitution and has rendered expert evidence to the Constitutional Court, Law Reform Commission and Parliament regarding the social and psychological consequences of prostitution. For more visit www.dfl.org.za

DFL is a non-profit organisation of more than 1300 doctors and professors and continually provide assistance, support and counselling to women and children wishing to escape prostitution. For more information visit: www.doctorsforlifeinternational.com