Written by: Cause For Justice
Article source: Supplied
On Monday, 14 July 2025, Cause for Justice (CFJ) submitted its written submissions (Heads of Argument) in their intervention application to oppose the court proceedings on the decriminalisation of prostitution in South Africa. CFJ filed its court application to intervene in the matter with the High Court in Cape Town on 7 April this year.
Approximately 17 other parties, in addition to CFJ, who are applying to court to be admitted either as respondents/opposing parties (four) or amici curiae (friend of the court parties – 13) have also filed heads of argument in support of their joinder applications.
The majority of the applications, including that of CFJ, are unopposed – which is appropriate in a matter of this nature, implicating as it does profound constitutional issues with far-reaching consequences for South Africa.
The court hearing of the admission applications is scheduled for 1 and 2 September 2025, with rulings expected shortly after, in all likelihood no later than October this year.
Background
In May 2024, a pro-prostitution organisation, the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Trust (SWEAT), and associated parties brought a court application challenging the constitutional validity of legal provisions that criminalise prostitution. The Applicants are asking the court to decriminalise adults’ engaging in sexual acts for reward (“prostitution”), both prostituted persons and so-called “sex buyers”. In addition, the Applicants want the court to direct various state organs to withdraw all criminal proceedings, expunge all criminal records, and release any persons serving a sentence for engaging in prostitution.
Motivation for CFJ’s intervention
The state of current South African law is that to receive payment for a sexual encounter with another who is not one’s spouse, is a crime. So too, is paying someone (a prostituted person or a third party) in order to engage in a sexual encounter with a prostituted person.
In a matter as this it is reasonable to expect that the state would defend a law made by Parliament as direct representative of the South African electorate. The Constitutional Court previously upheld the legislation in S v Jordan (2002) and the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC), after a wide-ranging and intensive seven-year project, recommended in 2015/2017 that the current total criminal ban on prostitution should be retained and further steps be taken to assist prostituted persons to divert out of the ‘commercial sex trade’.
Despite initially noting their opposition, CFJ learned at the end of 2024 that the South African government had withdrawn its defence, leaving the case completely unopposed. CFJ seeks to uphold the legislation and accordingly applied to join the case to represent the public interest in retaining the criminal ban on prostitution.
CFJ’s stance is based on the fundamental dignity of each human person, endowed with inherent worth and incalculable value. Prostitution involves the commodification of the human body, reducing human beings to commercial sex objects/commodities for the sexual gratification of predatory individuals, i.e. it violates their personhood and equal dignity as members of the human family.
Research and first-hand accounts of the practice and system of prostitution from around the globe, show that prostitution is inherently exploitative, violent and abusive, and is associated with an array of destructive and harmful consequences for the individuals involved in it, their families, surrounding communities and the rest of society. Prostitution is an irredeemable vice.
Next steps
Once the court has determined which parties will be allowed to participate in the case (as noted above, expected by October), the matter will proceed on the merits in accordance with a court-directed timeline for the exchange of pleadings, expert witness statements and other compulsory and incidental court processes.
The court hearing of the merits of the case is expected to take place during the first semester of 2026.
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Date published: 22/07/2025
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only. Artwork adapted from www.freepik.com
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