A South African court has withdrawn murder charges against a man arrested in connection with the killing of national football captain Senzo Meyiwa.
Zanokuhle Mbatha was arrested by a special police task team last month after a nationwide manhunt.
The magistrate ordered that he be released because that there was not enough evidence for him to stand trial.
Meyiwa was killed in a robbery at his girlfriend’s home in the township of Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.
Two men allegedly entered Kelly Khumalo’s home on 26 October and demanded mobile phones before shooting Meyiwa during a scuffle.
The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says the goalkeeper’s death caused a nationwide outcry with calls for stricter gun laws in a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world.
The day after the attack, police offered a reward of $23,000 (£14,000) for information about it and released images of two men suspected of killing Meyiwa, who also played for Soweto team Orlando Pirates.
Police placed a barricade of barbed wire around the court in Boksburg to help manage crowds ahead of Tuesday’s hearing and checked all cars entering the vicinity, reports South Africa’s Eyewitness News.
But Mr Mbatha, 25, also from Vosloorus, was not present in court.
“From the submissions made by prosecutor Getrude Market, the court has accepted that as of now there is not sufficient evidence to put Mr Mbatha to trial,” Magistrate Daniel Thulare Thulare said.
Tens of thousands of football fans attended the funeral for Meyiwa in Durban earlier this month.
Source: BBC