In this first piece, she goes undercover in a plush Durban North brothel with permission from the madame operating the business. The soft glow of the Moroccan-inspired lamps around the house is warm and welcoming, adding to the enticing ambience. South Africa's prostitution industry is edging closer to being regulated amid a bold new plan by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to reduce HIV among prostitutes. It looks like any other home from the outside, but it's been operating successfully like this for more than 10 years, with a steady stream of regular clients.
Now in her sixties, Julia is not clad in leather or the killer red stilettos one often imagines female brothel keepers to wear. There is no feathered whip at her side. Instead, she is a friendly, ordinary looking woman.
Someone I would imagine baking cupcakes for a school event. She pauses, adding that she was trafficked into it at a young age before working her way up as madam. But she is not ready to talk about that just yet. I take them in, and they pay me for the use of the room, by the hour. But I am here for them. Some are single mothers, somestudents, some have husbands who drop them off at what they think is an office job.
Some even work at an office by day and come here on weekends or at night without any family knowing. They are intelligent young women at the mercy of their financial circumstances, so who is society to judge their choices without knowing anything about their lives,? Local Chinese residents - well dressed, quite muscular, in their mid-thirties. The type you would imagine closing business deals over Peking duck in a good restaurant. They are warmly greeted and within seconds make their selection from the women sprawling across the sofas as Julia and I watch from a distance on the patio.
Fluffy towels are drawn from a closet and the men are escorted to the rooms for the business of the night. Thirty minutes later, they emerge, satisfied smiles etched across their faces as they make their payment, wave their goodbyes and disappear into the night. The women engage in ordinary banter, occasionally interrupted by the shrill ringing of the phone. A caller requests a girl to spend a few hours with him at his beachfront flat.
