Metro

South Africa to introduce law decriminalizing prostitution

Published

1 year ago

December 10, 2022

The South African government is to introduce a new law aimed at decriminalizing prostitution in a bid to combat growing violence against women in the country.

The legislation presented by the Justice Department on Friday, states that the “offer and use of sexual services will no longer be treated as a crime” so as to protect the over 150,000 commercial sex workers spread across the country.

The presentation which was made by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola at a press briefing, noted that decriminalizing prostitution will create better access to care and protection for the sex workers.

“It is hoped that decriminalization will reduce human rights violations against sex workers,” Lamola said.

“It would also allow for better access to care and protection for sex workers, better working conditions and less discrimination and stigma,” he added.

The minister also noted that South Africa which is one of the countries with the world’s largest HIV epidemic, has been hit by a wave of violence against women with commercial sex workers often targeted for rape and brutall attacks often leading to their death.

“Police figures released in November showed that the number of rapes and sexual assaults increased by 13% between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022. A rape is reported to the police every 12 minutes, not counting all those that are never reported,” the Justice Department report said.

“Murders of women jumped to 52% in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year. If sex workers are no longer labelled as criminals, they will be able to work much better with the police to combat violence,” it added.

The bill, which has been released for public consultation, however, deals only with decriminalization of prostitution and does not regulate the sex industry, which the Justice Minister said would be addressed at a later date.

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Metro

All my tough policy decisions are in Nigerians’ interest— Tinubu

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria has insisted that all his tough policy decisions and reforms have been taken with the interest of Nigerians at heart.

Tinubu, who made the assertion in Hague, The Netherlands, during the business session of the bilateral meeting with the Dutch team led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, insisted that though some of the policies had brought hardship on Nigerian masses, he was not afraid to implement more of such policies as they would yield positive results in the end.

“I am a determined leader of my people. I am ever ready to take tough decisions in the best interest of the people, even if with initial pains,” Tinubu said.

“I have and will continue to take the difficult decisions that will benefit our people, even if there is short-term pain.

“We have gone through the worst of the storms. I am unafraid of the consequences once I know that my actions are in the best long-term interests of all Nigerians.

“The Nigerian naira is one of the world’s best-performing currencies today.

“We took the necessary risk, and all resilient Nigerians kept faith with us.

“They will be rewarded, and the reward will only be greater as we partner effectively with you on new opportunities for development.

“As leaders, we must make decisions for the benefit of our nations, and we cannot shy away from that.”

The President also noted that symbiotic economic ties remain the best long-term path to sustainable and mutual prosperity rather than one-sided relationships in which bilateral trade is skewed too much in one direction.

Metro

Nigeria govt cancels 924 dormant mining licences

Published

6 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s minister of mines said on Wednesday that 924 expired mining licences had been cancelled immediately.

The country now wants investors to apply for the affected permits, which will be given out on a “first come, first served” basis.

In a statement, Mines Minister Dele Alake said that 528 exploration licenses, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licenses, and 273 small-scale mining licenses would be impacted.

As part of major changes in the mining industry, more than 1,600 mining titles were taken away in November for not paying the required fees.

Alake said that the action was taken to stop “licence racketeering,” which is when people or businesses buy titles to minerals that are worth a lot of money and then sell the licenses to the highest price.

“By creating a secondary, black market to pawn mineral licences, the unsuspecting and unwary investor is misled into believing that he can only obtain licence by patronising the black market. This discourages investment,” Alake said.

“It is our belief that this decision will sanitise the licensing system by penalising those who have commercialized the opportunities offered by the sector into a bazaar, he added.

Nigeria wants to attract investors to a mining industry that hasn’t been developed much in the past. To do this, they are giving incentives like not having to pay taxes on profits and sending them back to Nigeria in full.

Nigeria has had trouble getting value from its huge mineral riches because it didn’t invest in or take care of them.

After making it harder for foreign companies to get mining licenses last year, Africa’s biggest oil provider will only give them to companies that process their minerals in the country itself. The country is also rich in lithium, gold, and limestone.