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SEX WORKERS UP FOR WORLD CUP

01/03/2010. Summit Club in Hillbrow. This is one of the high class brothels in the area . P01/03/2010. © SOWETAN: VATHISWA RUSELO
01/03/2010. Summit Club in Hillbrow. This is one of the high class brothels in the area . P01/03/2010. © SOWETAN: VATHISWA RUSELO

AS THE countdown to the Soccer World Cup starts in earnest, Johannesburg's ladies of the night say they are ready to welcome visitors to our shores.

AS THE countdown to the Soccer World Cup starts in earnest, Johannesburg's ladies of the night say they are ready to welcome visitors to our shores.

A Sowetan investigation started in the city centre - at the Diplomat Hotel on the corner of Klein and Bree streets.

As I walked up the stairs at 8pm I felt my shoes stick to the floor. The tiles are dirty and there are beer bottles lying everywhere.

But I am distracted by women in miniskirts, sitting to stairs with their legs open. They are not wearing underwear.

I paid R7 at the door and was told a beer costs R15. The sex workers charge R50 for "a round" and the same for a blow job.

Each room has two beds and a mattress and doubles up as a kitchen. The girls rent out the rooms, with at least five sharing a room.

"It will be business as usual for us during the World Cup," says one of them.

Then it was off to Hillbrow - to the Ambassador Hotel.

Situated on Claim and Pretorius streets, the foyer looksinviting but the inside is disappointing.

The sex workers are sitting around with open legs and smoking. For R15 you will get in but it felt like a huge rip-off. The beers cost the same and sex is R50. The rooms are not that bad.

A block away is the Hillbrow Inn.

Imnandi nge condom (It's delicious with a condom)isthe song that welcomes you to the Inn.

After paying R15 at the door I was thoroughly searched before being allowed in.

The charges for beer and sex are standard.

Other than sex workers, the place has strippers. It was a sight to behold. Red-blooded men being called on to the stage to help strippers take off their underwear and have sex in full view of the patrons.

The DJ encouraged safe sex by providing condoms.

Lerato, a sex worker, told Sowetan she and her colleagues will charge R100 during the World Cup.

The rooms are clean, have a double bed, a television set and photos of the ladies.

The Royal Hotel, on Leyds Street in Joubert Park, is more upmarket. You fork out a R50 entrance fee. With the bouncers dressed in black suits, I felt like a king.

The place has comfortable chairs and air-conditioning.

With a beer costing R17, I discovered that R100 will score you a session with a sex worker.

But for soccer fans on a shoe-string budget the Moulin Rouge on Hillbrow's Claim Street will be the place to be. You can get in for R10, rent a room for R145 a day and have sex for R70 a round or R300 for the night.

Up the road is the Summit Club, a classy joint with lavish rooms and a great view of Joburg.

For a R90 entrance fee you will be rewarded with a stripper dancing on your table while you enjoy a R20 beer.

For a sex worker you will pay R260, but using my birthday status I got away with R180.

Phumi said prices would go up in anticipation of the tournament. For R1000 she promises a room and a night to remember.

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