A group of people waved placards and shouted slogans as they waited for former grand slam tennis doubles champion Bob Hewitt to arrive at the Boksburg Magistrate's Court on Friday morning.
Organisations such as the Northfield Methodist Church and Women and Men against Child Abuse held the protest outside the court.
Eye Witness news reports from the courtroom that 73 year-old Hewitt will face two charges of rape and one of indecent assault.
His advocate Terry Price, presented a medical certificate to the court and also lodged an application for the matter to be heard in the Eastern Cape to accommodate his ailing client.
Hewitt, who lives at Addo, was not in court.
The former grand slam doubles champion has denied molesting young girls he coached in South Africa decades ago.
