Prostitution in South Africa is illegal for both buying and selling sex, as well as related activities such as brothel keeping and pimping.
[14] The most recent legislative change was the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, section 11 which added Section 20(1)(aA) of the SOA, which states that any person who has unlawful carnal intercourse or commits an act of indecency with any other person for reward, is guilty of an offence, effectively criminalising the client as well as the prostitute.
Currently the South African Law Reform Commission has four proposals that were submitted for public discussion ranging from criminalisation to decriminalisation.
[22] Human Rights Watch in its August 2019 report claimed that the sex workers in South Africa faced frequent arbitrary arrests and police profiling.
Out of the 46 female sex workers interviewed by HRW, most of them had been raped by men purporting to be clients, and almost all had been victims of robbery or serious violence, including being beaten, whipped, and stabbed.
[23] Liesl Gerntholtz, acting deputy executive director for programme at Human Rights Watch, said “Sex workers in South Africa face arrest, detention, harassment, and abuse from police, which also deters them from reporting rape or other brutal attacks against them.”[24] In December 2022, the government published a draft bill that would legalise sex work.
[25] There are numerous allegations of members of the South African Police Service committing acts of violence and abuse against sex workers.
70 per cent of sex workers who approached the Women's Legal Centre to report a violation said that they had experienced police abuse in some form, including beating and rape.
[26][27] There were fears of increased prostitution in connection with the 2010 Football World Cup, some sources estimating that an extra 40,000 sex workers would enter South Africa for the competition.
[5] Criminal gangs recruit children from poor rural areas and take them to larger cities for commercial sexual exploitation.
[6] Hundreds of Women from Thailand, China, Brazil, Eastern Europe, Asia, and neighboring African countries are trafficked into South Africa and forced to work as prostitutes.