Phiwokuhle Mothemela
The 25-year-old man who is accused of beating his girlfriend to death, made a brief appearance in the Gqeberha magistrates court on Friday.
Baxolise Vuso faces a charge of murder after allegedly killing his 21-year-old girlfriend Zanele Dibaza on New Year's Day in Booysens Park.
Captain Andre Beetge says Dibaza suffered severe head injuries and died in hospital on the same day.
On Friday, members of the Economic Freedom Fighters and the ANC womens league held a picket outside of the court house ahead of Vuso's court appearance.
Beetge also said Vuso handed himself over to the police.
The group of women held placards that read "Am I next?" and "No bail" and chanted struggle songs.
After Vuso's brief appearance as the two political parties, Dibaza's family and friends left the courtroom, her mother fainted in the corridor, presumably due to shock.
The lady was then whisked away by family members when she regained consciousness.
EFF central command team member commissar Yolanda Luzipo says the justice system is so flawed that women are reluctant to open gender-based violence cases because the police question the legitimacy of the case.
"Many women die in the hands of their lovers daily," says Luzipo.
She added that the Gender-based Violence and Femicide Bill was passed in Parliament yet, changes in how the cases are handled are still not satisfactory.
Nontombi Nama, the secretary for the ANC Women's League in Nelson Mandela Bay, said Vuso should not get bail and must "rot in jail."
The matter was remanded to the 16th of January for a formal bail application.
