A South African farm worker has described to a court how he was forced by his boss to feed the bodies of two black women to pigs in an attempt to hide evidence after they were shot.
Adrian De Wet, 21, said he was told to throw the bodies inside a pig enclosure, explaining that “when pigs are hungry enough, they’ll eat anything”.
He admitted opening fire on the two women with his boss – farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier – before he ordered him to help dispose of their bodies.
Mr Olivier and another man, William Musora, are accused of murder after Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, were killed while allegedly looking for food on a farm near Polokwane in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province last year.
Farm supervisor Mr De Wet was also previously accused of murder, but charges were dropped by the prosecution when he turned state witness. He had argued he was under duress when he was forced to throw the bodies into the pig enclosure.
On Thursday, Mr De Wet told Polokwane High Court that he and Mr Olivier, 60, armed themselves with hunting rifles and waited for trespassers to enter the farm on the night of 17 August 2024.
He said after waiting for 30 minutes they heard voices of people talking and walking towards their direction.
They then opened fire and heard a person screaming, before inspecting the area and finding a person lying face down.
After leaving the area and going to sleep, they returned the next morning and found it was the body of a woman.
Mr De Wet said he was asked by Mr Olivier to help him throw the body inside the enclosure where eight to ten big adult pigs were kept.
The following day another body was found about 25 metres from where the first was found.
Mr Olivier, Mr De Wet and Mr Musora, 50, are said to have then thrown the second body inside the pigsty.
On the following Tuesday they returned to it and found that the pigs had bitten off large chunks of flesh on the women.
Pictures presented as exhibits in court show missing buttocks, face, thighs and shoulders.
State prosecutor Advocate George Sekhukhune asked Mr De Wet what the purpose of placing the bodies inside the pigsty was, to which he answered: “We were disposing the evidence because when pigs are hungry enough, they’ll eat anything.”
Mr De Wet also said Mr Olivier chopped up the hunting rifles with an angle grinder and burnt the wooden parts of the gun. They then threw away the cut up weapons including the spent cartridges inside a borehole.
The son of victim Ms Makgato cried repeatedly in court, while Mr Olivier was seen wiping away tears as Mr De Wet gave his evidence.
The case has sparked outrage across South Africa, exacerbating racial tensions between black and white people in the country.
This is especially rife in rural areas of the country, despite the end of the racist system of apartheid 30 years ago.
Most private farmland remains in the hands of the white minority, while most farm workers are black and poorly paid, fuelling resentment among the black population, while many white farmers complain of high crime rates.
Cross examination by defence lawyers of Mr Olivier and Mr Musora will resume next Wednesday.
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