Kwanele to protest at court appearance
THE man accused of the rape and murder of Siam Lee will appear in the Durban High Court tomorrow.
Members of the sex-trade survivor movement Kwanele will be protesting outside the court before his appearance. In January last year, 20-year-old Siam Lee’s charred remains were found on a farm in New Hanover, in the Midlands.
Lee and her mother, Carmen Nan, were sex workers based in Durban North. The 30-year-old suspect had been a former client of Lee’s.
He allegedly kidnapped her and held her at his home in Hillcrest before he drove her to the Midlands where he allegedly doused her in petrol and burnt her alive.
He cannot be named because he is accused of the rape of other women.
Kwanele leader Mickey Meji said the group would protest from 8am until 3pm. She described the suspect as “one of the many buyers”.
“Enough is enough. We are here to demonstrate and speak against the ills of the system of prostitution.
“Justice for Siam is justice for all. “The prostituted women who have suffered all kinds of violence from pimps, brothel owners and buyers.
“We want all the men who buy women to know that it is not okay to buy women for sexual acts.
“Women are not commodities to be bought and sold,” said Meji.
Kwanele is a movement set up by survivors of prostitution.
Meji said Lee’s murder case revealed that whether or not prostitution was legalised, women in the sex the trade were never safe.
“We are tired of being physically abused, raped and murdered by buyers, brothel owners and pimps. Siam Lee is one of the many women who have been brutally killed by a sex buyer.
“It shows that legalisation and full decriminalisation of prostitution will not make the sex trade safe for prostituted women,” she said.
Lee’s alleged killer is out on bail of R40 000.