Pule murder: media is ‘invasive’

Images and the identities of the prosecution and defence counsel must not be published.

Judge Ratha Mokgoathleng

High Court in Johannesburg

The pre-trial proceedings for the man charged with the murder of Tshegofatso Pule were postponed in the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday.

In addition to the postponement, Judge Ratha Mokgoathleng ruled that images and the identities of the prosecution and defence counsel should not be published.

The ruling was made after both legal teams took issue with the “invasive nature” of the media before and during court proceedings.

The proceedings were postponed after the state and the defence counsel requested a postponement for further documents and investigations.

Thirty-one-year-old Muzikayise Malephane is due back in court on 20 October.

Pule was found stabbed and hanged in the veld in Roodepoort in June. She was last seen on 4 June.

The 28-year-old beautician had left her home in Meadowlands, Soweto, to visit her boyfriend in Florida.

She reportedly had an argument with her boyfriend who then called a taxi for her.

Pule’s uncle told the Sunday Times that police showed them CCTV footage of the 28-year-old leaving in a grey Jeep without her boyfriend.

City Press reported that Pule’s best friend was the last person to have contact with her before she got into the grey Jeep.

She has since been under police protection after she allegedly received threats.

Pule was buried on 11 June in Soweto.

She was eight months’ pregnant at the time of her murder and this caused increased outrage related to the level of violence against women and children in South Africa.