The chances are you will not notice the group of women sitting on the upturned beer crates behind a truck pit stop on the N1 outside Colesberg. For almost a year now, Niki has been assiduously operating at this site. In what she describes as a nomadic trade with a short shelf life, she finds this particular pit stop to be accommodating to her needs. On the premises, the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry in partnership with Mercedes-Benz, FUSO, Unitrans as well as the Department of Health have put up a mobile wellness clinic to meet the various health needs confronting not only truck drivers and the sex workers but even the occasional odd walk-in patient from the surrounding community.
According to Mlungisi Nqolwana, the clinic co-ordinator, the centre offers more than a one-stop-shop for sexual health services, but also a vast array of health assistance to the said groups. Operationally the clinic is tailored around the needs of truck drivers and, by default, sex workers. Nqolwana also mentions how he often deals with escorts or call-girls who provide sexual services from private lodgings.
Obviously, she says, given the current legal status of sex work there is little else that PSF can do for them. They are disempowered to open up criminal cases with the police services in such instances. This, for year-old Niki, is a common occurrence, although she and her colleagues say they have devised ways around it.
Originally from Port Elizabeth she has worked the N1 route for over five years before settling permanently in Colesberg. Unlike certain towns she has operated in, here, she says, provided their dealings are kept away from the glare of mainstream customers, management of the premises seemingly turn a blind eye. She lists unemployment as the primary reason for doing what she does. Cape Town loses Mr Gay World after falling-out with organisers. Kelly's ex-wife threatens to sue Lifetime.
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