Male stripper: I regret being a sex worker!

UNEMPLOYMENT is one of the biggest problems in Mzansi.

While many keep looking for jobs, others have plans to put food on their tables.

Male stripper and sex worker Siyabonga Mbatha, known as King Minanjos, believes that unemployment is the main reason some people end up being sex workers.

The 27-year-old from Ennerdale, south of Joburg, told Daily Sun that people think their job is fun.

"If we had opportunities to work, we wouldn't want to sell our bodies for money. Some of us don't have a choice," he said.

Siyabonga said that he sometimes doesn't enjoy the job.

"Sometimes you sleep with people you wouldn't sleep with if you weren't desperate and the kind of stuff some clients want you to perform for the sake of money is shocking."

He's been a male stripper and a sex worker for three years.

ALSO READ | Death hits the Ranaka family!Opens in new window

"I already know the places I must go for rich clients, so retirement is something that's not on my mind right now. I think I'll push until I'm an old man.

"It's dangerous for your health and also can make your community look at you differently. Lastly, once you are in this game, people will know you as a sex worker, even if you try to change your life. That thing of being a sex worker will go with you for life," King Minanjos said.

He said that he has regrets.

"Do you know how painful it is doing something you don't like just to put food on the table and how painful it is that you are not allowed to attend your kid's parents' meeting functions because you are regarded as a disgrace in the community?

"I had dreams, and I still have dreams, but living in South Africa with no job and opportunities is painful. So, instead of feeling pity for myself, I need to use what I have to make a living regardless of what people say," he said.