Sex work on its way to becoming legal

SOUTH Africa is on the verge of removing criminal penalties from sex work; a move that could fundamentally reshape policing, public health, and gender-based violence policy.

The Justice Department has confirmed that a draft Bill aimed at decriminalising adult sex work is now being finalised, marking one of the most significant shifts in the country’s approach to the “oldest profession in the world”. If adopted, it would end the current legal position in which selling sex, buying sex, or deriving income from sex work is illegal.

At present, sex work remains a criminal offence in South Africa. But government says the process to change that is now at an advanced stage, following extensive interdepartmental workshops involving more than a dozen state institutions, including Health, Police, Social Development, Labour, Home Affairs, the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Revenue Service.

The Justice Department said on Thursday that the Bill is being finalised as part of a broader policy shift that has already been endorsed in principle by government and included in national strategies on gender-based violence and HIV, TB and sexually transmitted infections.

The update follows a meeting in Pretoria between Deputy Justice Minister Andries Nel and sex worker organisations, including the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT)), where officials provided an update on progress after months of technical work.

Cabinet first approved a draft version of the Bill for public comment in 2022. But the process stalled after legal advisers concluded that simply removing criminal penalties would not be enough. They said the law would also need to spell out how sex work would be regulated in practice, triggering further consultations and delays.

That led to additional rounds of workshops, held in November 2025 and again last month, bringing together government departments to work through practical questions around health protections, labour conditions, enforcement, and administrative oversight.

According to officials, the aim has been to close legal and regulatory gaps while ensuring the new framework fits within existing systems. A key focus has also been determining which current laws can be extended to cover sex work, and where new legislation would be required.

Justice Department spokesperson Terrence Manase said the process is now well advanced.

“The development of new legislation is at an advanced stage,” Manase said. “At last week's meeting, the deputy minister reiterated government’s commitment to the issue of the decriminalisation of sex work.”

He cautioned, however, that several procedural steps still remain before any legal change takes effect. “Once concluded, the department will prepare draft legislation for further engagement before approaching cabinet for permission to formally publish the bill for public comment,” he said.

After that, the Bill would still need Cabinet approval before being tabled in Parliament, where it would again be open to public participation. Only once Parliament passes it and the President signs it would it become law.

Until then, Manase said, the current legal framework remains unchanged. “It is important to note that the Bill mentioned by SWEAT is not an act yet and thus is not in operation as yet,” he said. “In other words, the current legislation pertaining to sex work still applies.”

He also said Deputy Minister Nel gave assurances to sex worker organisations about what the proposed law would and would not include. These assurances include that there would be no compulsory registration of sex workers and no forced HIV testing.

Proposals such as red-light districts or zoning laws restricting where sex work can take place were also ruled out. Instead, any local regulation would be handled through existing municipal by-laws, similar to other informal or small business activity.

The response from SWEAT was cautiously optimistic, but firm. “Sex workers cannot continue to wait for legal protection while facing ongoing criminalisation and harm,” the organisation said. “The time for consultation is passing. The time for action is now.”

Civil society organisations argue that the stakes extend far beyond legal reform. Sonke Gender Justice says South Africa’s already high levels of gender-based violence are even more acute for sex workers, who experience disproportionate levels of abuse. Research cited by the organisation suggests that between a third and half of sex workers were subjected to violence in their workplaces in the past year.

The organisation argues that decriminalisation would not only improve safety for sex workers but could also reduce broader levels of gender-based violence and strengthen public health outcomes, particularly in relation to HIV.

“A legal framework that criminalises sex work has been shown to greatly increase sex workers’ vulnerability to violence and illness, particularly HIV, while reducing the likelihood that abuse will be reported,” it says.

Sonke adds that sex workers remain among the most marginalised groups in the country, vulnerable to exploitation, violence and poor health outcomes.

International agencies echo support for decriminalisation, but not always from the same perspective.

UNAIDS has insisted that decriminalising sex work is a key public health intervention, estimating that it could prevent  between 33% and 46% of HIV infections among sex workers by improving access to prevention, testing and treatment services, and reducing barriers created by criminalisation.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also called on states to remove punitive laws that criminalise sex work, warning that such laws increase exposure to violence, undermine access to justice, and worsen health outcomes.

However, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls has argued that prostitution is frequently characterised by structural violence and exploitation that is obscured by the appearance of consent.

“The very concept of ‘consent’ is weaponized against women in prostitution,” the report states, arguing that consent is often “extorted through physical or economic coercion, manipulation and violence.”

The report also raises concern about technology-facilitated exploitation, warning that online platforms are increasingly implicated in trafficking and sexual exploitation, while enforcement struggles to keep pace. It also urges governments to strengthen protections for victims, address inequality and marginalisation, and reduce conditions that drive exploitation.