The family of slain Tshegofatso Pule has expressed disappointment after the trial against the man believed to be the mastermind behind her gruesome killing was postponed in the high court in Johannesburg.

The court postponed Ntuthuko Shoba’s appearance to January 17 to allow his lawyers time to prepare for his defence.

The state said it was ready to proceed.

Shoba’s lawyers applied for a postponement, arguing that they had not been able to consult their client properly due to Covid-19 protocols at the correctional services facility where he is detained.

Pule’s family said the postponement delayed the process of finding closure. 

She was eight months pregnant with Shoba’s child when she was killed in June last year. Her body was found stabbed and hanging from a tree in a veld at Durban Deep in Roodepoort.

“We were here in June when the matter was postponed for trial. They could have arranged this thing long ago. You just draft a letter to the prison official indicating the importance of this matter and the reason why you want to consult separately.

“I think it is just another delaying tactic... As a family, we were preparing ourselves to go through this trial process no matter how hard it is going to be. We were prepared to face it until the day the trial ends,” said Pule’s uncle Tumisang Katake.

Shoba’s friend Muzikayise Malephane, 31, was arrested shortly after Pule’s murder.

He entered into a plea bargain to turn state witness against Shoba.

Malephane alleged that Shoba hired him to murder Pule to hide her pregnancy from his wife.

He said he was promised R70,000 for the killing. Malephane is now serving a 20-year sentence and has been described as a “star witness” by the state.

Shoba has failed three times in his attempt to get bail.

His lawyer Adv Norman Makhubela told the court that consultations in prison have been restricted to Fridays, which gave the defence limited time with their client.

“We use an intercom to communicate with the client. Sometimes the intercom does not work and you have to jump from one cubicle to another. There are documents that we need to share with our client... we have to post them on a glass window... instead of the usual open consultation that we normally have,” Makhubela said.

He added that they had difficulty finding experts who would be used to counter the state’s case, which is heavily reliant on “technical evidence” involving cellphone information.

Makhubela said some experts they had found were also helping the state in its case against their client and they had to search elsewhere.

Acting judge William Karam granted the postponement and set the trial for three weeks.