40,000 Prostitutes and One Billion Condoms at the World Cup

There has been a lot of controversy about the World Cup recently, and it has nothing to do with the game itself. The World Cup is being held in Cape Town, South Africa and there are much more than just players and spectators showing up for the event.

It has been said that somewhere around 40,000 sex workers will also be showing up in the surrounding cities and countries catering to the World Cup. Some of these prostitutes are coming from thousands of miles away strictly for this event.

Now why is all this happening at a football event? Well simply because of the fans, and their attitude towards the celebration. Even taxi drivers are getting in on the action by offering a “bright red tour” where they will take you through the red light district to find your own kind of fun.

This kind of service doesn’t exactly come cheap either, for somewhere around $500 U.S. you will be driven around form club to club and they will even find you what they call “safe sex practicing” prostitutes. This is a pretty major factor in a country that almost one in five people have been diagnosed with HIV.

The actual numbers are somewhere between 17% and 20%, but still a hefty number. To even further the confusion of it all the president, Jacob Zuma, has asked the UK to supply some one billion condoms to South Africa before the World Cup, which has been a bit of hypocrisy considering that Jacob Zuma is a firm non-believer in condoms, as he sports somewhere around 20 children.

The UK responded promptly by sending over 42 million condoms to South Africa which is said to be able to cover everyone that will be involved in the celebration, no pun intended. Although even with the added “protection” many people are concerned that this event will still end up raising the HIV/AIDS population.

Now even though all this commotion has been coming up, the nine countries that will be hosting the games have raised the police resistance in their areas along with holding safe sex and AIDS seminars promoting safe sex and educating the youth about “sex-trafficking.” And this is very important considering Africa is the leading country of sexually transmitted diseases.

Some people think it’s a good step forward by providing the people with a safe alternative while other people still believe it’s a dumb idea to try and flag your own country as a one that encourages prostitution.