On Tuesday, sex workers and South African women’s rights organizations protested outside a Johannesburg court as a 21-year-old man was in court in connection with the discovery of six decomposing bodies that were thought to be those of sex workers.
The man showed up in the dock with a black cloth covering his face to conceal his identity.
He was detained last week after police, who were looking into the disappearance of a single sex worker who was supposedly last seen with the suspect, found the dead at a car repair shop in downtown Johannesburg.
The dead were apparently located inside the structure for a considerable amount of time because some of them were discovered with their hands tied, according to the police.
On Friday, the man is anticipated to participate in an identity lineup.
Prosecutors claim that a preliminary lineup was canceled because the police officer assigned to conduct it was not available.
When the man entered the courtroom, a group of sex workers present at the hearing yelled at him and demanded that the cloth covering his face be taken off.
As they are anticipated to be witnesses in the case, some of them concealed their own identities.
The relatives of the victims had not yet been notified, according to Phindi Mjonondwane, a spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, since DNA tests were still being carried out.
She stated, “At this time, none of the deceased victims have been positively identified; that process is still ongoing.
The decriminalization of sex work and the protection of sex workers were among the demands made by the protesters, who waved posters with these demands on them.
Nozipho Dlamini, who represents the Sisterhood Foundation, an organization that works on behalf of women, stated that sex workers’ working environments need to be made safer.
Dlamini stated, “As a community, we prefer that the streets and the properties where they reside need to be protected wherever they are.
The suspect is scheduled to return to court on October 25.
