A witness has revealed that the Limpopo farmer accused of killing two women and throwing them into a pigsty shot them as he was “fed up” with people stealing the expired food dumped at the farm by a Clover truck and meant for his pigs.
According to Adrian Rudolf de Wet, who was also charged with the murders and is now a state witness, pig farmer Zacharia Olivier tossed the women's bodies into a pigsty after the shooting to conceal the crime.
“We put the bodies in the pigsty because the intention was to dispose of them and conceal any evidence.”
We knew that pigs would eat anything when they are hungry. On Tuesday the bodies had missing parts, and I think they were eaten by pigs
“We knew that pigs would eat anything when they are hungry. On Tuesday the bodies had missing parts, and I think they were eaten by pigs,” de Wet testified at the Polokwane high court.
Maria Makgatho, 45, and Lucadia Ndlovu, 34, were among a group of people who regularly rummaged for dairy products that were dumped for the pigs on the farm.
On the night of August 17 last year, the group had not even started rummaging through the dumped dairy products when they were shot at, allegedly by de Wet and Olivier. De Wet testified that an armed Olivier had given him a gun and said, “Let’s go down to the farm to check if there are people who usually come there to steal the dairy products on weekends.”
He said when they arrived at where the food is dumped, there was no one, and they hid in the dark and waited for them. When they approached, gunshots went off, and both Makgatho and Ndlovu were shot. Other people managed to escape.
“I think the incident happened because Olivier was fed up with people who come to steal the dairy products and piglets, and also because the farm was facing bankruptcy.”
“Olivier had a contract/agreement with Clover to come drop expired dairy products at the farm,” he testified.
Following the shooting, de Wet said he and Olivier took a grinder and cut into pieces the firearms they had used to shoot the women. They also collected the cartridges and threw everything inside a borehole next to the pigsty where Makgato and Ndlovu lay dead.
“On Tuesday, I was working in the butchery, and another employee came and told me that he saw bodies at the pigsty. I went to Olivier and told him what the employee told me.
“Olivier told me to act normal and surprised. Then I, Olivier and the employee went to the pigsty. When we got there, Olivier called the Sebayeng police station. We also saw that the bodies were no longer in the same condition we left them when we disposed of them on Sunday; there were pieces of flesh that were missing on the bodies.
“We then waited for the police; they arrived later and told us no one must go to the pigsty until the forensic pathology arrives.”
The matter will be back in court on Wednesday.
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