The case against Sifiso Mkhwanazi, who is accused of killing one of the six sex workers in Johannesburg this year, was postponed to February for further investigations.
Twenty-year-old Mkhwanazi appeared briefly at the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Wednesday to answer to a charge of murder. He was arrested in October after six bodies of sex workers were discovered at an abandoned warehouse in the Johannesburg CBD.
The police were called to the scene following a foul smell coming from one of the buildings.
State prosecutor Tshepo Mahange-KaMzizi told the court that the investigations have not been finalised yet.
“As a matter of fact, we are not anywhere close to finalising that part of the evidence, that we can then inform the honourable court on how far we are with the investigation,” said Mahange-KaMzizi.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwana, said she is hopeful that the investigations will be concluded by the time the matter returns to court.
Following the discovery of the dead women, the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce called on the police to act speedily and decisively if sex workers are being targeted in the area.
The advocacy group added that the sex workers have mysteriously been vanishing since July this year.
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