A 34-year-old suspect appeared in the Benoni Magistrate's Court on Monday in connection with actor Dumi Masilela’s murder and botched hijacking.

Mashudu Malema, 34, was charged with robbery with aggravating circumstances for Masilela’s death a year ago.

The matter was postponed until August 27 for Malema to get legal representation and submit a formal bail application.

He is then expected to join three of his alleged accomplices for trail, which has been set down for October 8-9 in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

Masilela was shot during an attempted hijacking in Tembisa South and died in hospital on August 3 last year.  Gauteng police said Masilela and a friend sped off after they were approached by attackers in a Jeep on August 2. The men responded by firing shots at them.

Police were able to establish that a total of six suspects were behind the murder.The initial four were arrested last year. One of them, the owner of the Jeep, was released after it was established that he was also the victim of a hijacking.  The fifth suspect died in a robbery.

Malema's alleged accomplices, Mfundo Nkosi, Bongani Masumbuka and Solly Mukhuba, face charges of murder, hijacking, attempted hijacking and possession of an unlicensed firearm. All three men remain in custody.