No hard times for Cape Town gigolos

There's nothing new about prostitutes plying their trade - but there's a new game in Cape Town.

Foreign men struggling to find work are turning to the oldest profession and finding customers among South African women.

One of these is Kevin, a handsome 24-year-old from Kenya. "Cape Town women have money but their men are failing them in bed," he said this week.

He turned to prostitution four years ago when a woman he met at a bar paid him R3500 for sex. "We were both drunk but she kept coming back for more and every time she paid," said Kevin.

On a busy month, Kevin makes R30000, enough to pay his rent, buy designer clothes and send money back home.

The Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force (Sweat) estimates that South Africa has about 8000 male prostitutes, many of them from other African countries.

"Many of them came to Cape Town for general jobs and stumbled across this trade. It's easy money," said Lesego Tlhwale, a spokesman for Sweat.

Although many still work from nightclubs, bars, escort agencies and on the streets, a growing number are using the internet.

The Kenyan gigolo said his regular clients included rich housewives, pensioners and students.

"It's not like all of them are sexually starved at home. They do get sex but their partners don't help them climax. Once the men reach orgasm they stop, forgetting about their partners, and that's where I come in.

"The oldest lady to use my services was 70. She was so impressed that she gave me R10000," he said.

Kevin gets most of his clients through referrals and being friends with female street prostitutes and barmen in Long Street. "Some first-timers are too stingy to pay. Youngsters with cars prefer going to Table Mountain than to my apartment," he said.

Another foreign prostitute, Legan from Zimbabwe, said he bought his first car and a plot back home with money he made in Cape Town.

His first job was working in a gay brothel in Goodwood in 2007. He was one of the first black men in the brothel.

When there were few gay customers, the manager would book women and straight married couples for him.

"This is easy money but you also get exposed to doing things which you are not comfortable with. You are forced to do them for money," he said.

He joined Sweat to provide support to other male prostitutes on the streets. " The male sex industry is growing rapidly," he said.

Another straight man who has joined the profession is Thamsanqa, 22, from Kuils River near Cape Town, a second-year accounting student.

Unlike Kevin, he advertises on a website and charges between R100 and R200 an hour.

His clients are mostly single working women, women whose husbands spend months away from home, and tourists.

"It's not just sex, I have been hired to be someone's 'boyfriend' at a work function," he said. "Sometimes, my regular clients need someone who will just sit and listen to them talk.

"Good thing I drink and I play rugby and am quite clued up on what is happening in the country, so it's easy to engage in a general conversation with them," he said.

Sex therapist and talkshow personality Dr Eve said she wished there were more men providing for the sexual needs of women.

"More variety would not only help the women but their relationships as well," she said.

• ndabenik@sundaytimes.co.za