Desperate hookers in Harare are now approaching complete strangers and demanding money or they will cause them embarrassment.

Here Andrew Moyo of The Sunday Mail had an encounter with three of them. I was on my way home coming from the gym last Monday when I decided to pass through OK Fife Avenue to grab a couple of things. Had I been a prophet, I would have headed straight home. Little did I know that I would encounter one of the most embarrassing episodes of my life on this day.

As I was pushing my trolley heading for the tills, three girls who looked to be barely 18 approached and one of them greeted me as if we had met before. While I was still trying to figure out what these girls wanted, the one who had greeted me started accusing me of running away without paying for the sexual services she had rendered to me in my car near Parirenyatwa some time ago. Mind you, I don’t even drive.
I was shocked because I had never seen any of these girls before and when I tried to explain that she was mistaking me for someone else, she blocked my path and highlighted that she was about to raise her voice and cause a scene if I continued denying any knowledge of what she was saying.
As I was still trying to come to grips with what was happening, the girl then demanded that I give her a dollar if I did not want to suffer any embarrassment.
At first I thought that it was a mere joke but then I realised that these people were serious and since I did not want to draw any attention I complied and told them that I would give them the dollar but only after I had paid for my groceries because I didn’t have loose (excuse the pun) money.

They agreed and all this while I was thinking that I could take the matter to the security guard but it dawned on me that if these characters were to cause a scene, the guard would just tell us to take it outside and I would even suffer more embarrassment so I decided to just pay, it was a dollar anyway. One of the girls even asked if she could add a bottle of water on my tab and when I tried to ignore her, the one who was making accusations and seemed to be the gang leader insisted that I comply.

I was now regaining a bit of composure and my frustration was reaching boiling point and despite the fact that I could have easily overpowered the three of them in a physical confrontation, taking that route would have simply made things worse. I even tried to call one of my cousins who stays nearby hoping that he would come and help me deal with the situation but apparently his phone was not reachable. At this point, one of the girls panicked but the group leader highlighted that even if I called someone she did not care, all she wanted was the dollar I was about to give her.
Although I tried to make as little conversation as possible this girl continued reiterating that she was not mistaken and that it was me she had hooked up with and this caused some of the people who were nearby to start staring.

While we were standing in the queue by the till, a journalist from a local newspaper who I happen to know walked in and I went to talk to him. As I narrated my ordeal, he advised me to show him my tormentors but when I turned around they had vanished.

Apparently they had recognised him as it turned out they realised that they might just end up in the newspaper which is why they decided to bolt.

If it was not for him I would have given them the money they were demanding not because I know them but in order to avoid causing a scene and to protect my reputation. Andrew Moyo Sunday Mail