Johannesburg - The family of slain Thembisile Yende "is heartbroken" after the State on Thursday provisionally withdrew the case against Dawid Ngwenya, who was accused of murdering the former Eskom employee.
It was a short session at the Springs Magistrate's Court in Ekurhuleni, where the State prosecutor told the court that George Baloyi, the Director of Public Prosecutions in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), had given oral instructions that the case be withdrawn.
Prosecutors, however, said the case could be reinstated at a later stage.
The case pertains to Thembisile's gruesome death in May last year, when she was found dead and wrapped in a black refuse bag in an office at the Eskom planted in Springs where the deceased worked.
She had been missing for over a week when her decomposed body was found
Mboneni Yende, Thembisile's older brother, said the family was "heartbroken and disheartened" after the withdrawal, believing that the police had let the family down.
"It's been over a year now since my sister died, and we only have one suspect. We don't believe that Dawid Ngwenya was the only suspect," Yende said.
He added that investigators needed to intensify their probe in order to bring justice for her sister and the family.
Yende was also livid that the family were only informed before court began that the case was withdrawn.
He added that key surveillance footage where his sister wss found had mysteriously gone missing.
This outcry was also raised by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the union which Thembisile belonged to.
Numsa called on Eskom this week to assist the investigation as Ngwenya is their employee, and Thembisile was found at the power utility's plant.
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