Johannesburg - The man believed to have murdered 8-month pregnant Tshegofatso Pule, 28, was expected back at the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Muzikayise Malephane 31, from Zondo in Soweto, has been charged with murder.
Malephane's last court appearance was via video link from Krugersdorp Prison where he is currently being held as the court building was being decontaminated after two court orderlies tested positive for Covid-19.
He was arrested last month on his way from Mpumalanga.
When he made his first appearance in court, he could not stop crying as he sat in the dock.
A few days later, during a bail application, he refused the services of a Legal Aid lawyer and the matter was postponed to allow him to secure private representation.
This postponement did not sit well with some of people who were at court to show support for Pule.
“The justice system needs to change,” a woman shouted.
One of Pule’s friends, who was in the gallery during the court proceedings, said she was upset when the matter was postponed because Malephane wanted private legal representation.
“We are all here to find out what happened to Tshegofatso. Who was the mastermind behind this whole plan? We are very disappointed,” she said.
The friend added that more questions needed to be asked in the case.
“If he was paid to murder Tshegofatso then it means that he can get paid to take the fall for whoever is behind this. The more time we give him, the more he becomes relaxed, the more the people who actually conspired behind this can get away with all of this,” she said.
Another friend, Palesa Ndarala, said she believed that the justice system did not support victims.
“Tshego is dead, the baby is dead. They were not given a chance to come back and plead for their lives yet Muzi has been given countless chances to pay for a lawyer,” she said.
Pule's had last been seen alive while getting into a metered taxi which her boyfriend had called for her two weeks before she was found dead.
IOL