26 Aug 2014

The trucking business is to Southern African economies what water is to fish. Everyday huge haulage trucks traverse the length and breadth of the sub-continent to deliver goods to various markets in the region.

And, with many countries in the region landlocked and located deep inland away from sea ports, it makes a business sense for them to rely on huge haulage trucks to transport imported goods and export raw materials.

As they cover thousands of kilometres from the sea ports of Richards Bay, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town in South Africa, to far flung places such as Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, stopovers in Botswana’s towns and villages are a common happening.

Some of these trips can take drivers up to two weeks to finish between home and destination countries, which mean they often are away from their families for long periods of time, leading them to engage in transactional social relations.

Undoubtedly, such behaviour poses a danger to the health of their families and people in the countries that they pass through. In Botswana, the problem of truck stopovers becoming a market for sex workers is prevalent at entry and exit points such as Tlokweng and Kazungula.

However, some areas inland, such as Nata, have seen a mushrooming of sex workers which has led to the rising number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) recorded in the village health facilities in recent years.

As the gateway to the world acclaimed and pristine tourist attractions of the Okavango Delta and Chobe, Nata has become a popular rest station or stop over for huge haulage trucks headed to SADC countries to the north of Botswana.

The growth of the hospitality industry through lodges and guest houses has resulted in an economic boom which has seen many tourists and truck drivers spending the night on the half way mark within the village.

While most tourists use the lodges around, haulage truckers take to their bed fitted trucks resulting in a booming sex trade which has authorities on their toes as women from all over the country and even outside flock to the village to make a killing in the roaring trade.

Of great concern to the local traditional leadership in Nata is the fact that even students from the newly opened Nata Senior Secondary School have joined the bandwagon by engaging in the sex trade which puts their lives at the risk of possible STI’s and HIV/Aids infections.

In an interview, the deputy Kgosi of Nata village, Rebagamang Rancholo is at pains as he chronicles how the sex trade in his village has the potential to lead young lives to waste, especially students.

The students, he said, were in the habit of vandalising the school fence as they sneak out at night to try their luck in one of the world’s oldest professions which has endured from the medieval times.

This, Kgosi Rancholo said, was a cause for concern and has seen them engaging with the school management and police officials over the issue of students who sell their bodies.

One of the indicators of the sex trade, according to the traditional leader, is the rampant and unhygienic disposal of used condoms where the large trucks park at night.

“This is really disheartening and we are not even sure that all of these people including students who engage in the sex trade use protection.
Last year the health ministry held an awareness fair in the village after the local clinic registered high numbers of people with sexually transmitted infections (STI’s),” he said with a heavy heart.

This, he said, reinforced their suspicions that sex trade in the village might be fuelling the rise in STI’s as people who sell their bodies sleep with multiple partners and women, especially, don’t have the power to negotiate the use of protection by those who are procuring their services.

The trucks, he also noted, were no longer using Nata as a rest station but rather as a place where they spent their weekends before proceeding up north. “Most of them start arriving on Fridays in the afternoon only to leave early on Monday morning,” said a the visibly worried Rancholo.

He said that Nata had all of a sudden become a magnet for all sorts of people because of the improving economy of the village and the truck drivers who provide a market for sex workers.

However, he said that the local police were doing all in their power to deal with the situation by enforcing the law. The increase in the prevalence of STI’s, he explained might be attributed to the fact that the truck drivers not only engaged in the acts in Botswana, but in other countries in the SADC region where they pass through.

Consequently, he decried the high number of people infected with the HIV virus in the village. Commercial sex work is not the only concern afflicting Nata as a result of long distance trucks stopping in the village.

Kgosi Rancholo also highlighted that the trucks were also turning out to be an environmental eye sore as they spill oil everywhere in areas where they park for the night. This, he said, was hazardous as it pollutes underground water and might lead to disease outbreaks.

“In areas where these trucks are parked, the ground has been turned black due to the oil spills.

Also, there are no ablution blocks where they relieve themselves and some of them make fire under trucks which is dangerous,” he mentioned. He recalled an incident in recent years when a truck caught fire in the middle of the village, something which he said put the lives of residents at risk.

These trucks, Kgosi Rancholo added, sometimes carred hazardous chemicals and some drivers in previous years had been charged by the police for illegally selling fuel in the village.

In addition, he suspected that some truck drivers might be involved in crimes such as poaching as some ivory has been caught on trucks at border crossings such as Kazungula.

Concerning the recent Ebola pandemic, the traditional leader issued a stern warning to students and anyone who patronised the trucks for commercial sex work.

“Some of these drivers come from countries that are closer to the affected regions and any contact with them might prove catastrophic to the whole country. We have talked to the school authorities to caution students on this,” he asserted.

However, he blamed parents who have neglected their roles as caregivers. Some, he explained, did not punish their children for engaging in commercial sex work because of the short term economic benefits.

He encouraged them totake advantage of government empowerment programmes instead of engaging in sex work which has negative consequences for them, their families, the community and the country as a whole.

As a way of arresting this situation, he suggested that people who had been allocated commercial plots to build truck stop overs move swiftly to construct them outside the village, though it was an expensive undertaking.

The village development committee, he noted, was also expecting to be awarded a plot to construct a truck stopover. Despite all these challenges, Kgosi Rancholo argued that they were ready to deal with any challenges brought about by the economic boom that the village is experiencing.

“We were promised ten police officers in the village when the President visited recently but accommodation is still a challenge and we also want to introduce regiments under traditional leaders to fight crime within Nata.

We are also intensifying our neighborhood watch programme,” he confidently, mentioned. Meanwhile, Nata Police station commander, Assistant Superintendent Lawrence Moloi could neither deny nor confirm the reports.

He said that he was new to the police station and had been there for only two weeks and did not have information on whether the police had dealt with such cases in the past years.

“Since I arrived here we have not registered any cases of illegal fuel theft or people who are engaged in commercial sex work,” said Ass. Supt Moloi. Ends