Durban plans Amsterdam-style red-light district Sunday ...



Durban plans Amsterdam-style red-light district Sunday Times (South Africa) December 31, 2006

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Sunday Times (South Africa)

HEADLINE: Durban plans Amsterdam-style red-light district

BYLINE: Buddy Naidu

Durban plans Amsterdam-style red-light district

But the city's strip-club owners reject being lumped together with prostitutes and massage parlours

BUDDY NAIDU

DURBAN wants to develop South Africa's first red-light district.

Like the one in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, the Durban sex area would mean moving strip clubs, sex shops, massage parlours, escort agencies and nightclubs into the same neighbourhood.

Municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe said the proposal - intended to "police, monitor and control" the Durban sex industry and attract tourists - was at a "conceptual" stage and that he would seek political approval for it in the new year.

But for many of the players in Durban's sex industry, the red-light district will be a no-go area.

Teazers strip club owner Lolly Jackson said the plan was "ill-conceived".

"What next? They start taking all churches, mosques and temples and putting them up in the same [religious] area?"

He said Teazers was a strip club and should not be tarred with the same brush as prostitution.

"We are not into prostitution. Imagine if we were situated next door to a massage parlour - we would be classed in the same category."

Jackson also said such a move could affect his bottom line.

"Teazers sells the fantasy, not the reality," he said.

The owner of massage parlour and bar Adult Club, in the plush Durban suburb of Morningside, who refused to be named, said discretion was the cornerstone of the local sex industry.

"This would be lost were we to be plonked all together. I am situated near the trendy Florida Road area and have been open for 10 successful years. Why, then, must I move?"

He said it would cost too much to relocate.

"Even if the move were to be subsidised, we cannot as businesspeople be dictated to," he said.

Sutcliffe said he expected criticism of the plan but that ordinary residents had nothing to fear. Such "nodes of entertainment" would be in the inner city or near industrial areas and would be easier to police and manage "from a safety point of view".

"It's designed to get women off the streets by providing a safe and healthy environment for them to operate," he said.

At least three inner-city areas had been identified for the red-light district and that "informal talks" had already been held - but he would not say with whom.

Several massage parlour owners and prostitutes operating from private homes said they stood to lose if the plan went ahead.

The owner of one of Durban's better-known city-centre brothels, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it made no financial sense.

"What exactly is the city offering in terms of inducements for us to move? They need to come up with an attractive offer that will entice us," he said.

A prostitute who works from a luxury flat in Umhlanga and charges R1000 an hour said designated areas made sense - but only for "street girls".

"Discretion is the name of the game and I don't need my family or friends knowing what I do. A red-light district would just become a meat market."

She said some of her wealthy clients would not visit such an area.

But Kleon Makrides, co-owner of Alleycat, an importer and distributor of sex products, said safety concerns applied mainly to streetwalkers.

"Adult stores are like supermarkets and there's nothing to police or monitor," he said. As a tourist attraction, the idea "could work".

"Stores like ours would not really benefit because there would be a price war as we all sell the same things. But if the city were to offer incentives and charge us nominal rentals then I would be the first to sign on," he said.

Sayed Iqbal Mohamed of the Organisation of Civic Rights, a body working in the inner city, said: "We must not lose sight of why many women sell their bodies - it is out of hardship, poverty and economic depression."

He said the city should instead focus on tackling social issues like unemployment and poverty.

BOYS AND GIRLS COME OUT TO PLAY: Durban city manager says he will seek political approval for sex haven next year Picture: THEMBINKOSI DWAYISA

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