# The ‘Corrective Rape’ & Murder of a Lesbian Hero

An episode of [Outlore with Eleanor Neale](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1682504024), 29 Jun 2025, 40 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5754348194.mp3

South Africa, 2008: Eudy Simelane was a Football hero. One of the first openly gay players to ever play on the national team, born and raised in the township of Kwa-Thema. She was changing the game - quite literally. She was a vocal gay rights activist and dedicated hours to Aid work. But aged 31, her life was brutally and tragically taken from her. And what followed, was a long and hard fight for justice, in a legal system where gay people barely ever stood a chance. And in a world, where so-called “corrective-rape” is a national emergency. Resources: The Triangle Project - https://triangle.org.za/about-us/ https://linktr.ee/eleanornealeresources Watch OUTLORE Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@EleanorNeale Follow Me Here for Updates & Short Form Content: Instagram TikTok

## Transcript

[0:00] Before we begin today's episode, I want to warn you that from the
[0:03] start, we'll be discussing sexual violence and rape.
[0:07] Viewer discretion is advised. Hello and welcome back to Outlaw
[0:11] Podcast. I'm Ellen O'Neill, and in
[0:13] today's episode we're in South Africa in 2008, where the body
[0:18] of a women's footballing hero was discovered, beaten bloody
[0:23] and partially clothed. Her name was Judy Similani.
[0:26] She was 31 years old when she was murdered and her body dumped
[0:31] in a shallow ditch. When the news broke, you would
[0:34] expect there to be outraged, and there was, but not as much as
[0:38] you would think. Because, devastatingly, this
[0:41] kind of thing had come to be expected.
[0:44] Udi was a lesbian living in the South African townships.
[0:48] And in the townships, no lesbian is safe from the violent
[0:52] phenomenon that is corrective rape.
[0:59] Outlaw, have you ever heard a man say one night with me and
[1:03] I'll turn you straight? Lesbians are sick of hearing
[1:07] stuff like this. I mean, recently we've seen that
[1:09] exact thing happen on national television, on Celebrity Big
[1:13] Brother UK, when Mickey Rourke told JoJo Siwa if I stay longer
[1:17] than four days, you won't be gay anymore, I'll tie you up.
[1:21] If you if I stay longer than four days, you won't be gay
[1:24] anymore. I can guarantee I will still be
[1:27] gay and I will still be in a very happy relationship.
[1:29] I'll tie you up. The men that talk like this
[1:31] think that it's just like a funny throwaway line, that it's
[1:35] unserious, that it's just a joke.
[1:38] But for many lesbian women, this is a real threat that they are
[1:42] faced with every day, men forcing themselves on them.
[1:46] And there's actually a name for this.
[1:48] It's called corrective rape. It's a threat, and far too often
[1:53] it's actually carried out. The intent behind corrective
[1:56] rape is to either punish or quote UN quote, cure gay people
[2:00] of their sexuality. And in South Africa, for black
[2:04] lesbians living in the townships, it's estimated that
[2:07] 10 cases of corrective rape are taking place every week.
[2:12] It's a national emergency and it isn't a new one.
[2:16] It's been happening for decades, and this term, corrective rape,
[2:19] wasn't widely used or understood on a global scale until 2008,
[2:25] which is when today's case takes place.
[2:28] And I quickly want to warn you that on top of rape and sexual
[2:31] violence, we'll be covering a whole load of other sensitive
[2:34] subjects today around homophobia, racism and murder.
[2:39] This is going to be a very heavy one, but a very, very important
[2:42] episode. So once again, viewer discretion
[2:45] is advised. Udi Similani was born on the
[2:48] 11th of March 1977. Her mother, Molly, actually
[2:52] chose the name Udi for her because she was reading this
[2:55] particular book at the time, and there was a female character in
[2:58] there called Udi, and she was so inspired by this character.
[3:02] She was such a strong woman, full of perseverance.
[3:06] And when she was pregnant, Mama Molly knew that she wanted her
[3:10] daughter to grow up to be exactly like the Udi in this
[3:13] book. And you'll see throughout this
[3:15] episode that Udi Similani really lived up to her name.
[3:19] When Mama Molly gave birth to Udi in 1977, this wasn't her
[3:23] first child. Udi had an older brother named
[3:27] Bafana who was actually the one that inspired U DS passion for
[3:31] football. He taught her everything in the
[3:34] beginning and they would play together all the time.
[3:37] The siblings were very close and I mean they kind of had to be
[3:40] because they shared a bedroom and from a very young age, UD
[3:43] was decorating that whole room with football posters and
[3:47] memorabilia. And she was only four years old
[3:50] when her parents realized that they had a promising young
[3:53] footballer on their hands. Not only did UD adore the sport,
[3:57] but but she was damn good at it as well.
[3:59] She was playing not just with her own older brother, but all
[4:03] of his friends too. And they weren't exactly beating
[4:06] her. This is like a four year old
[4:08] girl. Her parents had expected UD to
[4:11] be an active kid since they were a very sporty family.
[4:14] Her brother played on local teams, her dad was into
[4:17] football, her mom just loved all sports.
[4:21] So when their four year old daughter starts playing like a
[4:24] mini pro, they couldn't have been prouder.
[4:27] From a young age, UD was also given the nickname Styles
[4:31] because of how skillfully she played with her left foot.
[4:34] UD just loved being recognized for her talent and for her
[4:38] passion for the sport. But her skill in football wasn't
[4:42] the only thing about UD that garnered attention.
[4:45] Her looks were very intriguing to a lot of people because she
[4:49] was a classic tomboy. I'm sure you can imagine in a
[4:52] very conservative, traditional Township, going against the
[4:56] grain like this was never going to set her up for an easy ride.
[5:00] UD was born and raised in a Township southeast of
[5:03] Johannesburg called Kwatima, and life was not very easy living
[5:08] there. Such is the case for most, if
[5:10] not all, townships. Townships were designated
[5:14] residential areas for black families to live in during
[5:17] apartheid, which took place in South Africa officially between
[5:21] 1948 and 1994. Most townships were made by the
[5:26] government to enforce racial segregation.
[5:29] They'd often forcibly remove black families from their homes
[5:33] because those homes were too close to white people, and
[5:36] instead they were made to move to live in townships much
[5:39] further away. By the time of this case in
[5:42] 2008, shockwaves from the apartheid still rippled through
[5:46] South Africa. Obviously, it was going to have
[5:49] ramifications for decades following.
[5:52] And one of the areas where you've always been able to see
[5:54] the consequences of apartheid most is in these townships, like
[5:58] the one that Udi lived in, in Kwatima.
[6:01] Udi was born in 77, so for most of her childhood and teenage
[6:05] years, segregation was still in full swing.
[6:08] Her family, as well as every other one white family in South
[6:12] Africa, were made to live in huge economic, social and
[6:15] educational disparity compared with their white neighbors.
[6:20] Poverty, unemployment and lack of education funding were
[6:23] serious issues. Crime rates were through the
[6:26] roof and so was religious fanaticism.
[6:29] People had extreme intolerant views that arguably wasn't a
[6:34] group of people who suffered more during this time in the
[6:37] townships than people who were both black and to LGBTQ,
[6:42] specifically lesbians. And to narrow it down even
[6:45] further, masculine presenting lesbians the masks.
[6:49] And UD was one of them. By 12 years old she knew who she
[6:52] was and she made no secret of it.
[6:55] Her school even initially confused her for being a boy
[6:58] because she refused to wear the girl's uniform.
[7:00] She only ever wanted to play football.
[7:02] She wasn't your typical little girl.
[7:05] UD faced more and more issues as she grew into an adult, but by
[7:09] far the most terrifying thing looming over her was the threat
[7:14] of corrective rape. In South Africa, mask presenting
[7:17] lesbians faced the highest risk of being targeted, attacked and
[7:21] raped, to quote UN quote, cure their sexual In 2022, it was
[7:27] found that up to half a million men in South Africa had
[7:31] assaulted women over the course of a 12 month period.
[7:35] Half a million. Let that sink in.
[7:38] Those are modern statistics, even after cases like the one
[7:42] that we're discussing today. And we know that many of these
[7:45] men had targeted their victims because they were dressed and
[7:49] were presenting more masculine. In fact, Butch was the word that
[7:52] was used. Corrective rape is such a long
[7:56] running threat to mask women and back in the 80s and 90s, UD as
[8:01] well as all of her family knew that she would be considered the
[8:05] perfect target to potential perpetrators of corrective rape.
[8:09] Don't get me wrong, her family supported her wholeheartedly in
[8:13] everything that she did and how she identified and how she
[8:16] presented. They cheered her on through her
[8:19] football matches. They knew that the UD that they
[8:22] had was the happiest version of her, so she was completely
[8:25] accepted for who she was at home back when she was only a kid.
[8:30] Her grandma actually expressed some concerns about how Udi
[8:33] might be treated as a football playing tomboy.
[8:37] But Udi herself told her grandma, my soul is liberated
[8:41] when I play it. It makes me happy.
[8:43] And that was enough for her grandma.
[8:45] It was enough for her whole family.
[8:47] They accepted Udi as she was and she deeply loved football.
[8:52] It was like she came out of her Mama and her soul was already
[8:56] connected to the sport. It was her destiny and she was
[8:59] going to make a real difference. In her teens, she began playing
[9:03] for her local club, who at the time were called Quatema Ladies,
[9:07] now known as the Springs Home Sweepers.
[9:10] Her first position was as a goalie, but she wanted more.
[9:13] She wanted to be out there running with the ball,
[9:15] commanding the pitch. She knew that to be able to
[9:18] advance to a midfielder position, she needed to work on
[9:21] her fitness. And so UD dedicated out.
[9:25] I was in the gym every single day.
[9:27] She honed her skills, and eventually, she got her wish.
[9:30] She became a midfielder, and a ruthless one at that.
[9:35] If another team beat hers, Udi would swear to double their
[9:39] winning score the next time they faced off.
[9:41] And she always made good on her word.
[9:44] Udi was so determined that she would come back with a vengeance
[9:47] and she would blow the other team out of the water.
[9:50] She started coaching youth teams and she pursued football
[9:53] professionally with dreams of making it to the national team
[9:57] and soon it was all going to pay off.
[10:00] Around 1998, you'd would have been around 21 when she became
[10:04] the first ever player from her local team to be selected to
[10:08] play for South Africa's national team.
[10:11] She did it back then. The team was called Bianna
[10:14] Bianna. It had been created in 1993 as
[10:18] apartheid was coming to an end with sport what's finally ending
[10:21] their racial segregation? As far as we can tell, Udi got
[10:25] on well with this team. Her teammates admired her, and
[10:28] for good reason. Because with Udi, the national
[10:31] team qualified for Africa's World Cup finals and finally
[10:35] started gaining recognition internationally.
[10:38] Not only was this amazing for Udi and her team, but for
[10:42] women's football as a whole. It was rising in popularity,
[10:45] becoming more and more celebrated.
[10:47] And so was Udi Similani. She was becoming a real football
[10:52] star, not only in her Township, but throughout the whole of
[10:55] South Africa. Alongside making a name for
[10:58] herself as a footballer, UD was also becoming a very well known
[11:02] activist for the gay community. She was very, very proud of her
[11:06] identity. She never tried to hide it or
[11:08] change it and she wanted every other LGBTQ plus person to feel
[11:13] like they could do the same. She was one of the first famous
[11:17] and openly gay people in South Africa, openly lesbian at least.
[11:22] She paired her status in football with her activism and
[11:26] she volunteered hours of her time advocating for gay rights,
[11:30] for protection, freedom, acceptance, supporting people in
[11:34] the community with AIDS, which sadly has a long history of
[11:38] being intertwined with the homophobic crime of corrective
[11:42] rape. A major, major consequence for
[11:44] victims is often contracting AIDS with black lesbians,
[11:49] contracting HIV from sexual violence at an alarming rate.
[11:53] For example, while we were researching UD's case, we came
[11:56] across another woman's story. Her name is Simpi Way Tandeka,
[12:01] and like UD, she grew up as a tomboy, but her family were
[12:05] nowhere near as accepting. When she was just thirteen years
[12:08] old, Simpi Way was raped by her own uncle, who believed in the
[12:14] method of corrective rape. Traumatized, Simpi Wai went and
[12:18] told her mom and her grandma about this attack, but they told
[12:22] her to never speak about it ever again.
[12:25] Realizing that Simpi Wai was unchanged, her uncle was now
[12:29] insistent that a straight marriage was the only thing that
[12:32] would work, so he took her to a friend's house and ditched her
[12:36] there. While she was stranded at this
[12:39] random man's house, Simpi Wai was beaten and raped multiple
[12:43] times. This man ended up telling simply
[12:46] Wiz uncle that he couldn't marry her because she was still gay.
[12:49] The corrective rape wasn't working and that's when her
[12:52] uncle offered to pay this man to just take her as his wife.
[12:56] Anyway, soon after this simply way ended up in the hospital and
[13:01] was given the horrific news from doctors that she was pregnant.
[13:06] Not only that, she was also HIV positive and it had been her own
[13:11] uncle who had given her HIV. She even said my mom had known
[13:16] that my uncle was positive but she never told me these sorts of
[13:20] stories. These horrific, life changing,
[13:23] truly nightmarish experiences for gay people were an
[13:27] unfortunate, fortunately still are so common.
[13:30] So today we want to platform an incredible charity in South
[13:34] Africa called the Triangle Project, which does critical
[13:37] work and has been the light at the end of so many stories like
[13:41] simpy ways. The Triangle Project not only
[13:44] provides members of the gay community who have suffered
[13:47] sexual and physical violence with resources like health
[13:50] checks and counseling, but they also go a step further for the
[13:54] future. They're actively fighting for a
[13:56] world where corrective rape doesn't exist anymore.
[14:00] The charity was established in 1981 by a group of gay men in an
[14:04] effort to fight against AIDS and HIV.
[14:07] They set up medical services, helplines, and from there, the
[14:11] organization has just grown. It's snowballed and become a
[14:15] critical place for LGBTQ Black S Africans to seek help and
[14:19] support. Please do consider donating to
[14:22] them this Pride month. As we said earlier in this
[14:25] episode, this is a national emergency and your contribution
[14:29] to Fight for an end is even more valuable than you might think.
[14:32] As always, the link to this charity and many, many others
[14:36] can be found in the description of this episode.
[14:38] I pray that none of you will require their services, but the
[14:41] Triangle Project is there for you if and when you do.
[14:45] And now it's time to talk about the horrific attack on Udi
[14:49] Similani. She was just 31 years old.
[14:52] She had just gotten a new job at a law firm in April of 2008.
[14:57] As much as she wanted to dedicate her life to purely
[15:00] activism and football, neither of those things were really
[15:03] paying her, so she was excited to now be on a good salary that
[15:07] she could use to help support her family.
[15:09] She'd even excitedly taken her mum Molly to look around the new
[15:13] offices. But deep down you'd knew that
[15:15] this job wouldn't be permanent because she was going to make
[15:18] sure that football paid one day. She actually had dreams of
[15:22] becoming the country's first ever female referee and she set
[15:26] her sights on qualifying in time to ref for the 2010 FIFA World
[15:30] Cup, which was being held in South Africa.
[15:33] Only UD wouldn't live to see that.
[15:36] World Cup 4 men made sure of that.
[15:39] On Saturday 27th of April 2008, UD and her friends went out to
[15:44] celebrate her achievements. She'd already begun her referee
[15:48] training. She had this new job at the law
[15:50] firm, so a night of drinking and chatting in the local Tavern was
[15:54] in order. I think it's important to note
[15:56] that our UD was quite the local celebrity in her Township.
[16:00] Everyone knew of her, so she was turning heads.
[16:03] People were saying hi to her, and eventually the night ended
[16:07] at 1:30 AM. It was a short walk back to
[16:10] Udi's home from the Tavern. She'd done it multiple times
[16:12] before after a night out drinking, taverning, she'd be
[16:16] home in no time. Part of the walk was across a
[16:18] big field that backed onto residential housing.
[16:22] And I'm not going to lie, this stretch of barren land was kind
[16:26] of a hotspot for gang violence, for crime, even dumping literal
[16:30] dead bodies. But this was the only route to U
[16:34] D's house. Everyone had to walk it, whether
[16:36] they liked it or not. And on this particular night,
[16:40] there was something awful lurking in the fields.
[16:43] As they made their way through the darkness, UD and her friends
[16:46] clocked a group of four men following them.
[16:49] She might have even recognized one of them from around town,
[16:52] but there was no time for her to even be sure of that.
[16:55] Within seconds, the four men suddenly picked up the pace and
[16:58] ran at her. UD and her friends realized.
[17:01] We need to run. The whole group began sprinting
[17:04] off, but it seemed like the men weren't interested in chasing
[17:07] down any of UD's friends. They were chasing UD
[17:11] specifically. They caught up up with her
[17:13] pretty quickly and immediately knocked her to the ground.
[17:17] She was outnumbered, she was overpowered, and there was
[17:20] nothing she could do to protect herself.
[17:23] What happened next is nothing short of horrific.
[17:26] They ripped all of her clothes off of her, dragged her into a
[17:30] ditch, and all of the men took turns beating her, raping her,
[17:35] and finally stabbing her multiple times all over her
[17:39] body, including even her face and the soles of her feet.
[17:44] Throughout this whole attack, Udi was screaming for help.
[17:48] Remember, these fields backed onto some houses and we know
[17:52] that people were within earshot hearing distressed women's
[17:56] cries. But no one actually came to help
[17:59] Udi because, as I said, this place was famously a hotspot for
[18:03] murder and violence. It wasn't unusual to hear
[18:07] screams like this, but the residents couldn't really do
[18:09] anything about it unless they wanted to be attacked as well.
[18:13] It's also important to note that people living in townships have
[18:17] complex relationships with law enforcement because I'm sure a
[18:21] few of you are thinking well OK they don't need to get involved
[18:23] themselves but why not call the police?
[18:25] But many people in these townships felt a deep sense of
[18:29] distrust within the police. They had experienced first hand
[18:33] corruption when dealing with them and also the police were
[18:36] pretty notorious for delayed response times and keeping a low
[18:40] profile in high crime areas, I think just because they don't
[18:43] really want to get involved. So this distrust in the police
[18:47] meant that UD was left lying in that ditch all alone, only
[18:51] partially closed, where she would soon die from her injuries
[18:57] and blood loss, while her four attackers ran away, having
[19:00] stolen her phone, her watch and even the football boots from her
[19:05] feet. When the sun rose the next
[19:07] morning, the residents who had heard the screams from the night
[19:10] before went outside, fully expecting to find a dead body.
[19:15] And there they found the Township celebrity, the
[19:18] international South African footballing hero who was going
[19:22] to be their first ever female referee.
[19:25] It was Udi Similani. She was only 31 years old and
[19:29] one of the most important LGBTQ figures the country ever had.
[19:34] That morning, Udi's older brother Bethana was at his
[19:38] grandma's house. He was listening to music when a
[19:40] woman from the local area came knocking on the front door.
[19:43] She told him that word was going round that his sister had died
[19:48] and she wanted to check if it was true.
[19:50] Bufana was shocked, like quite speechless.
[19:53] This had seemingly come out of nowhere and now Bufana's
[19:56] thinking, well is this woman messing with me?
[19:59] Was this just like a twisted rumor?
[20:02] He knew that he had literally seen you'd the day before.
[20:05] This woman had to be mistaken and he told her as much, that
[20:08] you'd was fine as far as he knew.
[20:11] But 10 minutes later, his phone rang.
[20:14] It was his parents next door. Neighbor a little bit random.
[20:18] He asked if everything was OK, was there a problem?
[20:21] The neighbor said yes, everything is OK, there's no
[20:23] problem, we just need to speak with you.
[20:25] Come down to the house like now. So he got a taxi back to his
[20:30] parents house, which even drove past the strip of land where UD
[20:34] had been attacked and Bufana had no idea.
[20:37] He had noticed police on the field and a bunch of people
[20:41] gathered around, but he hadn't made the connection with what
[20:45] the neighbor had said to him earlier.
[20:47] It wasn't until he pulled up at his parents house when he
[20:50] realized the police were there too.
[20:52] He was told he needed to go to the station to speak with the
[20:55] police. His mom was already there.
[20:57] She had gone through all of this earlier that morning.
[21:00] When she first woke up, she walked past Judy's bedroom and
[21:04] down the hall, and she actually thought thought that she could
[21:06] hear U DS TV turned on in her room.
[21:09] So she kind of took that as confirmation that her daughter
[21:12] had gotten home safe the night before.
[21:14] But when she was called up and asked to make her way down to
[21:17] the police station, she had no idea what it could have been
[21:20] for. As far as she was aware, all of
[21:23] her family were accounted for. Her husband was at work, but
[21:26] Fana was at his grandma's. UD was in her bedroom watching
[21:30] TV. On top of the general worry, U
[21:32] DS mom was also very wary of police in general.
[21:36] Like I was saying about everyone in the townships.
[21:38] I mean, corruption is everywhere in all law enforcement and the
[21:42] sheer racism that we know historically and still in modern
[21:46] times remains a huge threat for people of color when it comes to
[21:51] interacting with law enforcement.
[21:53] This is a woman who had lived practically her whole entire
[21:56] life under apartheid. Her experience with the police
[22:00] would have been horrendous. She avoided crossing paths with
[22:03] them at all costs. But now he here she was, sitting
[22:07] at the station, waiting for her son to arrive to tell him that
[22:10] their beloved UD had been murdered.
[22:14] The police took both Molly and Bafana to the strip of land
[22:18] where UD had been killed. But Bafana was insistent that he
[22:21] didn't want his mother to see UD's dead body.
[22:25] He very bravely said that he would be the one to go ahead and
[22:28] identify her, but one thing that he couldn't hide from his mother
[22:32] was the blood that was all over the ground below them.
[22:36] There was so much of it, and under the heat of the sun, it
[22:40] had all dried into the dirt. Now Bafana did something quite
[22:45] unexpected. And before I tell you, I need
[22:47] you to bear in mind that the family were in complete shock.
[22:51] This was so sudden that a beloved member of their family
[22:55] was there yesterday and is gone today.
[22:58] Bafana saw his sister's dried blood in the dirt, and the idea
[23:02] of leaving some of her behind just broke his heart.
[23:06] Without much thought, he collapsed onto the ground and
[23:09] started clawing at it, scooping up Udi's blood into his hands
[23:14] and shoveling it into his mouth. Obviously, people tried to stop
[23:18] him, but he told them, this is my blood, I will not leave it
[23:21] here. He said that he would take her
[23:23] with him, and the people who did this to her will be found.
[23:27] One by one they will be found. Her whole entire family was so
[23:32] devastated, so shocked. Her dad broke down and so did
[23:37] the community that loved her. They all called UD a diamond,
[23:41] but now they're diamond. It was gone forever.
[23:44] Her murder made the national news and headlines all around
[23:48] the world. And because of the scrutiny of
[23:51] that, the South African police were now under.
[23:53] They acted quickly, unusually quickly for a crime involving a
[23:57] black lesbian from the townships may I add, because as I said
[24:01] before, police weren't known for quick response times within the
[24:04] townships. Within 24 to 28 hours, all four
[24:09] men had been taken into custody for the robbery, rape and murder
[24:14] of Udi Similani. One of them, 23 year old Tata
[24:17] Mpiti, had actually voluntarily handed himself in when he heard
[24:22] the police were looking for him. All four of Udi's killers were
[24:26] younger than her. They were between the ages of 18
[24:29] and 24 years old, and there wasn't a doubt in Befana's mind
[24:33] that his sister's murder had been planned in advance.
[24:37] The four men knew who she was, and they had targeted her
[24:41] because she was Udi Similani, an openly masked lesbian.
[24:46] But it was now when things would take a turn because although her
[24:50] attackers had been caught, Udi's family and her community still
[24:54] relied on the courts to give her justice.
[24:57] And that is something that they just couldn't rely on.
[25:01] A court date was set for February of 2009, and there the
[25:05] four men charged with murder, robbery with aggravating
[25:09] circumstances and rape stood in front of a judge to have their
[25:13] fates decided. But these four were all over the
[25:16] place with their story, and so was the first judge.
[25:19] And I say first judge because we're going to need 2 trials and
[25:23] two judges to get any sort of justice for UD.
[25:27] The first trial was held in February and during that the
[25:30] fellow that turned himself in, 23 year old Tatum PT, pleaded
[25:34] guilty and in doing so he implicated all three of the
[25:38] others. He told the court that all four
[25:40] of them had sat in the Tavern drinking heavily all night until
[25:44] they're set out with the intent to roam the streets looking for
[25:48] victims to rob. And as they prowled the streets,
[25:51] they spotted UD, the locally famous footballer.
[25:54] They chased her down, but when they realized that she didn't
[25:57] have that much money on her, only a mobile phone, they
[26:00] dragged her into a ditch to rape and murder her instead.
[26:05] One of the four men was actually familiar to UD from around town.
[26:09] She would have recognized him. She would have been able to give
[26:12] his name over to the police if she had to, and that apparently
[26:17] played a deciding factor as to why they killed her, Tato said.
[26:22] I panicked because I didn't want to be arrested.
[26:25] And when he was asked why he wanted to plead guilty, he said.
[26:28] I felt bad and ashamed about what I did.
[26:31] I want to take responsibility for my actions.
[26:33] But As for the other 3, well, their stories did not match
[26:38] tattoos. They all insisted that UD hadn't
[26:41] been targeted, that the rape had nothing to do with her being a
[26:44] lesbian, that they didn't even know who she was.
[26:48] Tata and PT, the one who would pled guilty, was sentenced to 32
[26:52] years in prison, while a second trial was scheduled for the
[26:56] other three after they denied Tata's version of events.
[27:00] By the end of the first trial, it had become very clear that
[27:02] the judge was biased. He insisted that this case was
[27:06] simply a violent robbery gone wrong, not a sexually violent
[27:09] attack out of hatred for a masked lesbian.
[27:12] The judge explicitly said in his statement that you'd being gay
[27:16] had quote, no significance in this case.
[27:20] To which gay rights activists across not only South Africa,
[27:24] but also the whole world called him out on saying how dangerous
[27:29] it was for him to not even recognize how disproportionately
[27:33] lesbians face rape and murder in South Africa.
[27:37] Lesbians who'd even attended the hearing that day said that they
[27:40] were threatened by young men telling them no matter what
[27:43] transpires in court, we are going to eliminate the lesbians
[27:47] and gays, which is a hate crime in itself, surely.
[27:51] After Tatto was sentenced, he promised to testify against the
[27:55] three others in the second trial.
[27:57] He clearly felt some level of remorse for what they'd all
[28:00] done, and now he was going to take the other three down with
[28:04] him, as he should. But when the next court date was
[28:07] set only a few months later, suddenly Tato had changed his
[28:11] mind and he was refusing to testify.
[28:14] Don't piss me off. Like apparently he had found God
[28:18] and said that he didn't want to speak or something, which
[28:21] doesn't really make sense to me unless he had been threatened to
[28:25] keep his mouth shut by the others on the outside.
[28:29] But even then, like you're going down for 32 years bro.
[28:32] I don't think you have too much to worry about when it comes to
[28:34] people on the outside. Like you've already told the
[28:36] court everything once and you can't exactly take that back
[28:40] anyway. By pulling out at the final
[28:42] minute, he had thrown off the entire prosecution that was
[28:46] heavily relying on his testimony.
[28:49] And this massively delayed the second trial, which finally
[28:53] began in September and a new judge was assigned to oversee
[28:57] the case. But this new judge didn't
[29:00] exactly get things going on a promising note either when he
[29:03] asked the prosecutor, is there another word that you can use
[29:06] instead of lesbian? And honestly, this was a bad
[29:10] indicator to everyone. Following the trial, there had
[29:12] been protests and rallies not just in South Africa but
[29:16] worldwide, calling for all three of the remaining perpetrators to
[29:20] be sentenced to life in prison. For this crime to be
[29:24] acknowledged as a homophobic hate crime, to call out the
[29:28] corrective rapes that had been used as a weapon against
[29:31] lesbians for years. And I guess most importantly for
[29:35] this case, everyone was just pleading for all three men to be
[29:38] found guilty no matter what. Because despite the barbaric
[29:42] violence against lesbians that had been happening long before
[29:46] 2008, barely any crimes of this nature had even sent someone to
[29:51] prison, let alone been legally acknowledged as a hate crime.
[29:55] For example, only the year before Udi's rape and murder, a
[29:59] lesbian couple from a Township were heckled and followed by a
[30:03] man when they were leaving a bar.
[30:05] They were beaten, stripped, tied up, gang raped and shot dead.
[30:11] Their names were Cesar Kelly Sigasa and Salami Masua, and no
[30:16] one had been charged for their murder.
[30:19] And sadly, Udi's second trial would only further add to the
[30:22] statistics of low conviction rates because out of the three
[30:26] attackers left on trial charged with Udi's rape and murder, two
[30:30] of them were actually acquitted. Their names were Kumbulani
[30:34] Magagula and Johannes Mahlangu. They got away with it despite
[30:40] having been implicated in Tata's guilty plea the first time.
[30:44] In court, they were able to walk free with the judge declaring
[30:47] that there just wasn't enough evidence to charge them in the
[30:50] trial. But the judge did say that God
[30:53] would be their judge in the next life, indicating that he thinks
[30:57] they're guilty, although legally his hands are tied.
[31:01] If Tata wasn't going to testify against them officially, then
[31:04] there wasn't really any concrete evidence, even though everyone
[31:08] knew the truth. And that is just such a
[31:11] sickening feeling. An acquittal for two of them was
[31:14] not what anyone wanted, but there would be at least some
[31:19] justice. The remaining of the four
[31:21] perpetrators was 24 year old Temba Mvoobu.
[31:24] He was found guilty and it might have actually been his own
[31:29] brother who got him sentenced. His brother actually testified
[31:33] in court, saying that on the night of Udi's murder, Temba had
[31:37] come home with his trousers covered in bloodstains.
[31:41] He was literally wearing UD's football boots as well, the ones
[31:45] that had been stolen from her dead body.
[31:48] As a result, Temba was sentenced to 35 years altogether.
[31:52] But despite having denied everything and pleading not
[31:56] guilty this whole time, once he was actually found guilty, he
[32:00] changed his tune completely. He started telling the court and
[32:03] the press that he wasn't sorry for what he had done to UD, that
[32:07] he didn't regret it. He singing like pure evil.
[32:11] There's a special place in hell for someone like him.
[32:14] The 0 remorse here. But also isn't this wild?
[32:17] Because clearly that's an admission of guilt right?
[32:20] How frustrating that a decision was already made when he starts
[32:24] opening up and saying that he doesn't regret what he did.
[32:27] It's frustrating that we can't just do another trial and say,
[32:30] well, we have the evidence now out your own damn mouth.
[32:33] After the second trial came to a close, this second judge
[32:37] actually acknowledged that UD sexuality may have had some
[32:40] significance in her murder, might have had some
[32:44] significance. It's still so frustrating that
[32:47] her murder was never classed as a hate crime, but at least this
[32:50] acknowledgement is a baby step in the right direction.
[32:54] It's the bare minimum, but hopefully it leads momentum to
[32:57] make some change over there in the South African courts when it
[33:01] comes to hate crimes. Gay rights activists were loud
[33:05] about this and they advocated further for the need to start
[33:08] implementing more legal framework to be able to convict
[33:12] and class this is like this as hate crimes and for one of the
[33:16] first times ever, the term corrective rape and what was
[33:19] happening to the gay community in South Africa made its way
[33:23] into the mainstream international media.
[33:26] It was U DS case that achieved this mainly because she was
[33:30] something of a national treasure over there.
[33:32] It was her life's work and her dream to become a football hero.
[33:37] Her endless hours of aid work and activism for gay rights
[33:41] bought her a status that meant if some something happened to
[33:43] her, it wouldn't happen quietly. And now, even though 4 evil men
[33:49] had ended her life in the most horrifying way, the power that U
[33:53] DS name had and her legacy led to important changes being made.
[33:59] Critical awareness was raised across the world for a community
[34:02] of people who had been shunned, violated, and ignored when they
[34:06] cried out for help their entire lives.
[34:09] A memorial was held in Kwatima at U DS local Church.
[34:14] Churches in these townships had often been unwelcoming of the
[34:17] gay community, despite some of them actually being desperate to
[34:20] integrate gay people into their congregations.
[34:23] They just hadn't done so because they were worried about
[34:25] backlash. But at U DS local church, at
[34:29] this memorial, the priest opened his doors and specifically
[34:33] welcomed the gay community. I'm not sure if he expected
[34:36] this, but the crowd erupted in cheers.
[34:39] Just just so happy to even be acknowledged in a church, let
[34:43] alone welcomed for who they are. For the next 40 years after
[34:47] Udi's death, her mum Molly dedicated her life to becoming
[34:51] South Africa's most visible and vocal parent to the LGBTQIA plus
[34:57] community. She advocated for acceptance for
[35:00] respect and rights for gay people across South Africa.
[35:04] In 2019, in her 70s, Molly passed away.
[35:08] Her daughter has had changed South Africa and now so had she.
[35:13] I guess it could be surprising just how tough life is for gay
[35:17] people in South Africa when you actually take into account the
[35:20] country's quite progressive laws.
[35:22] I didn't know this before researching for this case, but
[35:25] South Africa isn't exactly behind when it comes to gay
[35:28] rights in many aspects. For example, they were the 5th
[35:31] country in the world to legalize gay marriage back in 2006.
[35:35] The UK didn't legalize it here until 2014, but progressiveness
[35:40] doesn't always apply when you look at it through the lens of
[35:43] intersectionality, which is really what you'd and all of the
[35:47] other black lesbians from the townships were going up against.
[35:51] Being a woman in South Africa back then and today is no joke.
[35:56] I mean, being a woman anywhere in the world is fucking hard,
[35:59] but South Africa is notorious for its sexism and violence
[36:03] against women. Like a lot of places, harmful
[36:06] gender norms and violence against women are deep, deeply
[36:10] ingrained in societal norms. During this research we came
[36:14] across some really shocking statistics like a girl in South
[36:17] Africa is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read.
[36:23] Many times people have tried to debunk this claim but then it
[36:26] just gets reproven and then people debunk it again and it
[36:29] gets reproven a few times over. But I do want to give some
[36:32] clarity on how these gender based crimes are such a national
[36:36] emergency in South Africa. For example, in a very recent
[36:39] study of 1000 random households in South Africa, 70% of men said
[36:45] that a wife should obey her husband and 15% said that they
[36:51] had the right to punish her if she did something wrong.
[36:54] But I think possibly the scariest of the statistics that
[36:57] we found was that 23% of men believed that a wife cannot
[37:02] refuse sex with her husband. He is entitled to it whenever he
[37:07] pleases. And 12% of these men believed
[37:10] that if a woman doesn't put up a physical fight to stop a rape
[37:14] from happening, then it doesn't count as rape.
[37:17] And that's just the ones who were willing to be honest in
[37:19] this survey. In reality, these kind of
[37:22] statistics are always higher than what's reported because
[37:25] people don't want to admit the truth and how they feel.
[37:28] Violence against women is so rampant.
[37:31] South Africa reports around 40,000 rapes per year.
[37:37] But when we look at the violence the subsections of women are
[37:41] facing, it gets even worse. To look at only black women for
[37:44] example, they face a hugely higher risk than white women.
[37:48] When it comes to gender based violence in South Africa, this
[37:52] is largely a consequence of apartheid, where these women
[37:55] were made to live in areas of high poverty, high crime, high
[37:58] unemployment and low education. Obviously all of this doesn't
[38:02] just end when apartheid does. It takes decades to dismantle
[38:06] that structure and to end that cycle.
[38:09] And it isn't just a racial issue.
[38:11] Intersectionality doesn't only apply to race, it applies to all
[38:15] subsections, all groups. For example, women with
[38:18] disabilities also experience a disproportionate level of
[38:21] violence. Another subsection would be
[38:24] sexuality like lesbians, and a further subsection would be
[38:28] black lesbians and to go even further, black mask lesbians,
[38:32] which is what Udi Similani was. And as we know from Udi's case,
[38:37] the more subsections that you fit in, the more danger and the
[38:41] lack of opportunities you live with, and as a result, the more
[38:44] likely that person falls victim to discriminatory crimes like
[38:49] corrective rape. Corrective rape wasn't and isn't
[38:52] just to quote UN quote, cure gay people.
[38:55] It's used to torture them, to punish them, to degrade,
[38:59] humiliate and strip them of their power and autonomy.
[39:03] And it is still happening at alarming rates.
[39:06] And it isn't just happening to masked lesbians.
[39:08] It's happening to trans people, to gay men, to femme lesbians,
[39:13] non binary people, to bisexuals. And it needs to end.
[39:17] I would like to end this episode just by giving a little reminder
[39:21] about the Triangle Project that we spoke about about earlier.
[39:24] They are working tirelessly to educate and to spread awareness
[39:28] and help members of the LGBTQ plus community in South Africa.
[39:33] So if you need them and you know, I, I pray that you don't,
[39:37] but if you do, the link will be down below in the description.
[39:40] And as I asked earlier, it is pride month.
[39:43] Please do consider donating. They're doing amazing, amazing
[39:46] work that needs the funding so desperately.
[39:49] And of course, there will be our link tree down below with a
[39:52] bunch of resources. We're always adding more.
[39:55] So if you need any help or you want to find any charities, go
[39:59] take a gander. And there's so much to find down
[40:02] there. But thank you so, so much for
[40:03] tuning into this episode of Outlaw Podcast.
[40:06] If you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to
[40:08] subscribe to our channel, leave a like, leave us a comment so
[40:11] that we can continue the conversation.
[40:13] If you're listening on a podcast platform, please rate US five
[40:16] stars and also leave us a comment.
[40:18] I've been reading the comments on Spotify recently.
[40:20] I didn't even know that they had those until recently.
[40:23] But I see you, I read them all. And yeah, I will see you in the
[40:27] next episode. Bye.

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