Punish the pimp, says schoolgirl prostitute
A schoolgirl, who started prostituting herself at 13-years-old for R50 a time, told the Durban Regional Court on Friday she wanted to see nothing more than her pimp punished.
"I am still angry with him. I will never forget what he did [to me] even when I sleep. I would truly like for him to be punished for that," the girl said.
She was responding to a question in court about whether she was angry at Sandile Patrick Zweni, the man who allegedly operated a prostitution ring out of Durban's Inn Town Lodge.
Zweni, Dr Genchen Rugnath, Rugnath's wife Ravina, Nonduzo Dlamini, and Bhabha Dubazini are accused of running a brothel with girls as young as 12. The five have pleaded not guilty to 156 charges, including assault, rape, sexual exploitation of a child, and racketeering.
The girl, who is now 19 and cannot be named, told the court during her evidence in chief earlier this week that she would charge R50 for sexual intercourse and R100 for both sexual intercourse and oral sex.
On Friday, under cross-examination by Mbulelo July, for Zweni, she denied she was fabricating her evidence, but admitted that she was extremely angry with him. She told the court she was also angry with Zweni because he had had sex with her.
"I'm not lying about him. Everything I said is the truth about him."
She said that while she worked at the Inn Town Lodge, the money she earned would go towards buying drugs.
Inn Town Lodge is owned by Rugnath, who claims he knew nothing about prostitution at the hotel, located in Durban's Point Road area and left the running of his hotel to manageress Veena Budhram.
Point Road is known for its red-light activities.
Budhram was also initially charged, but has since turned State witness.
-Sapa