By Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge
The trial of Philani Ntuli, the businessman accused of murdering 20-year-old Siam Lee, was due to finally start on Thursday in Durban. However, because the defence was not ready, it has been postponed once again. The full hearing is now set to take place at the end of July.
Lee was allegedly abducted by Ntuli in January 2018 from a brothel operating under the guise of a massage parlour on Margaret Maytom Avenue in Durban. He reportedly held her captive for more than a day at his home in Hillcrest, beating her repeatedly until she couldn’t move. He then set her body on fire in a field in central KwaZulu-Natal.
When her remains were found hours later, 90% of her body was burned, leaving her almost completely unrecognisable. Ntuli faces a litany of additional charges related to the murder, including robbery, reckless driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, fraud, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The court also heard that in March 2016, Ntuli allegedly held another prostituted woman against her will at his home, where he abused and raped her before she managed to escape. He is also accused of assaulting another woman, Lucky Mthembu, to whom he was engaged in 2015.
Women who survive the brutal sex trade know all too well the constant threat of violence and murder by sex buyers. When a man pays for sex, he often feels entitled to do as he pleases—without limits. Research has shown that male sex buyers are significantly more likely to demonstrate a lack of empathy, hostile masculinity, and a propensity for violence, including rape.
The South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) has acknowledged the high levels of violence in prostitution and the stark power imbalance between the sex buyer and the woman being sold. In 2017, the SALRC released a report recommending partial decriminalisation, also known as the Nordic or Equality Model, as one of its preferred options.
This model, first adopted by Sweden in 1999, has since been implemented in Iceland, Norway, France, Northern Ireland, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and Israel. It is grounded in the principle of gender equality—decriminalising prostituted people and providing exit services, while penalising pimps, brothel-owners, and sex buyers.
In contrast, the alternative—full decriminalisation or legalisation—is often backed by pimps and brothel owners, and has been widely criticised. The SALRC does not support this approach because it fuels commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.
In Germany, full legalisation in 2002 turned the country into a “giant Teutonic brothel”. A study from the University of Queensland found that even after ten years of legal brothels, 90% of sex trade operations remained underground and illegal.
New Zealand, which fully decriminalised prostitution in 2003, has struggled with child trafficking and hidden abuse, since pimping, brothel-keeping, and sex buying are no longer regulated or monitored. Even former Prime Minister John Key admitted that he doesn’t believe the model works.
Despite overwhelming evidence, President Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to publicly reject the failed model of full decriminalisation or support the Equality Model, which aligns with South Africa’s constitutional values of human dignity and gender equality.
From my own experience working with survivors, I am convinced that the Equality Model is the only solution South Africa should adopt. It’s time we respond to the SALRC’s findings and become the first African country to enact a sex trade law rooted in human rights.
Siam Lee’s horrific death has jolted the nation, forcing many to confront the violent reality that prostituted women face daily. As survivor Mickey Meji powerfully states:
“Prostituted women do not wake up one day and choose to be prostituted. Prostitution is chosen for us by our colonial past and apartheid, persistent structural inequalities, poverty, past sexual and physical abuse, the pimps who take advantage of us, and the men who pay to access our bodies for sexual gratification.”
The time has come for South Africa to decide what kind of future we want for all our women and girls.
Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is a former deputy government minister and the founder of Embrace Dignity, which works to end commercial sexual exploitation in South Africa.