File: A view of a local magistrate's court. Usame Yildiz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
JOHANNESBURG - Five men accused of kidnapping and murdering two women in Orange Farm are expected to make their second appearance in the Vereeniging magistrate’s court on Thursday.
This follows their first court appearance last Thursday, during which they requested a seven-day postponement to secure legal representation.
The suspects were arrested on 13 January in connection with the killing of Nontokozo Mazibuko and Ncambokugcina Santongane.
Mazibuko and Santongane, both aged 25, were reported missing on New Year’s Eve.
A ransom demand was later made to the mother of one of the victims.
READ: Five in court after two women murdered near Orange Farm
Their bodies were subsequently discovered in an open field in Poortjie, south of Johannesburg.
Outside court last week, eNCA spoke to Masimelane, the leader of the Noble Virgins cultural group, of which the two women were members.
Masimelane said the community is still struggling to come to terms with the killings.
“It was a difficult situation because when I first heard about it, I couldn’t believe it. Those two girls were not people who roamed the streets.
"I was told that the last time their family saw them was when they were going to watch a match. This came as a huge trauma,” he said.
The five accused face charges of murder, kidnapping, robbery, possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition. Four of the five are also charged with being in the country illegally.