Murder accused Mzikayise Malephane has appeared again in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court.
The accused appeared via a video link on Wednesday from Krugersdorp Prison.
Malephane briefly told the court that he was abandoning the services of a Legal Aid lawyer and would secure his own private attorney.
Malephane, 31, is facing a premeditated murder charge after he allegedly killed 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule.
Pule, who was eight months pregnant, was last seen by her relatives on 4 June, leaving her Soweto home to visit her boyfriend, Ntuthuko Shoba, in Florida.
CCTV footage shows Pule getting into a Jeep as she leaves Shoba's apartment, the Sunday Times previously reported.
The young woman's body was found hanging from a tree in Roodepoort's Durban Deep on 5 June. She had been stabbed in the chest.
She was positively identified by her family three days later.
Malephane is expected back in court on 2 July.
#TshegofatsoPule images depicting Tshegofatso Pule being carried by protesters outside the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court pic.twitter.com/txfJC67GkF
— ntwaagae Seleka (@ntwaagae) June 24, 2020
#TshegofatsoPule EFF and ANC members chanting slogans together outside the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court after murder accused Mzikayise Malephane made a briefly appearance in court @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/vnXainfBu6
— ntwaagae Seleka (@ntwaagae) June 24, 2020