Johannesburg – The suspect accused of the Sakhumzi Restaurant murder last month appeared briefly in the Orlando Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Njabulo Ngubane, 24, is accused of murdering Khwezi Hudson, a manager at the popular Soweto restaurant.
He also faces a charge of armed robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Mduduzi Ngcobo, 21, faces a charge of robbery. He faces an additional charge from an alleged robbery in November.
Matters were postponed to March 1 for further investigation.
Meanwhile, Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane called for the suspects to face maximum sentencing if found guilty.
She said: “I am hoping for a successful conviction from this case. I am expecting a maximum sentence on both cases, the murder and the robbery with aggravating circumstances."
“I am expecting not less than 20 years per case, I am confident that we will be able to convince the magistrate to give maximum sentence.”
Nkosi-Malobane said security has been increased and that a sector police vehicle has been deployed in the area in a bid to curb further robberies.
“Our sector police vehicle is deployed in that area and makes rounds every 15 minutes. Our sector vehicle was the one that tried to pursue the criminals, but unfortunately there was a getaway vehicle, that’s why we could not catch them,” she said.
“But when the shots were fired our vehicle was around, made a turn to investigate what was happening, but could not catch them.
“The getaway vehicle has been confiscated and is with the police.”