A heavy police presence was visible during the appearance of Malamulele traffic officer Masingita Chavani and 22-year-old Steven Sithole, who are being accused of kidnapping Hlulani Maswanganyi, in the Saselamani Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Hundreds of angry community members, relatives and friends arrived at the court and razor wire was erected to prevent the crowd from coming anywhere near the court premises. Heavily armed police from different police stations and two police Nyala vehicles were posted at startegic points around the court.

Only a few members of the community and family members were allowed inside the court and a large group waited outside. As was the case during previous appearances, some of the businesses in the area were closed, but some opened later.

Masingita and her companion stood motionlessly when Magistrate Daniel Maluleke postponed the case to 4 February next year and they will both remain in custody. They stand accused of kidnapping 17-year-old Hlulani Maswanganyi and her one-month-old son in the Xikundu area almost two months ago.

The baby was found safely, but the mother has been missing since then. The two led the police on a wild-goose chase, pointing out different places where they had supposedly hidden Hlulani's body, but in all instances the searches yielded no positive results.

A fortnight ago, the charred remains of what was believed by some of the residents and family members to be that of Hlulani were found by a fisherman at the Nandoni Dam, a spot that was previously pointed out by the other accused in the case. Family and police are still awaiting the post mortem results that will confirm the identity of the body.

A commotion nearly erupted in court when one of the victim's family members was taken out of the court room to be searched. Outside the court room, after the appearance, the large crowd was adressed by community leader Dennis Chabane, who told them of what transpired in court.

He asked the huge crowd to disperse peacefully, but they were angry that the case was not progressing. The police had to use rubber bullets and fire teargas at the angry crowd outside the court. Family member Wilson Mahlawule said they would await the wheels of justice to move at their own speed. "Even though we have the body, we are still awaiting the DNA tests to come back, so that we can be sure that we are burying the right person. What hurts us most is that we have to endure the pain of seeing the accused laughing at us all the time. All we can do is to  wait for the law to take its course."

Saselamani police spokesperson W/O Sam Matsimbi urged the community to be patient. "We are still waiting for the DNA results that were conducted on the body and, as you know, these results do take a little longer. Hopefully we will have them by the time they [the accused] appear in February," he said.