Forget for a moment how or who will be checking how much the ladies of the night and gigolos charged and how many people sought their services, including such transactions in official statistics sends an unfortunate message about the values we espouse as a society.

Sex work is currently illegal and should therefore not be in the basket of activities that contribute to the economy.

By this relativist standard, we might as well include car thieves, bank robbers, child traffickers and assassins.

South Africans of good conscience should oppose this. It is not enough to argue this is a global trend. Economic growth should not be at any cost.