A South African farm worker has testified in court that he was forced to feed the bodies of two murdered Black women to pigs under duress from his employer. Adrian de Wet, 20, turned state witness in the Limpopo High Court, alleging that farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier, 60, shot and killed Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, after they searched for expired dairy products meant for pigs on the property near Polokwane.
According to prosecutors, De Wet (a supervisor on the farm) was coerced into disposing of the victims’ remains in a pig enclosure to destroy evidence. His testimony could lead to dropped charges against him, while Olivier and fellow accused William Musora, 50, remain jailed on murder, attempted murder, and obstruction of justice charges. The case has reignited racial tensions in South Africa’s farming communities, where land ownership disparities persist three decades after apartheid.
The killings have drawn national outrage, with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a radical opposition party, demanding the farm’s closure. Supporters and relatives packed the courtroom, including Olivier’s visibly emotional wife, while advocates highlight broader issues such as white landowners still dominating private farmland, black farmworkers facing exploitation and low wages and violent crime fueling mutual distrust between communities
Musora, a Zimbabwean national, faces additional charges under South Africa’s Immigration Act for residing illegally in the country. The prosecution alleges all three men shot at Ndlovu’s husband, who survived, before attempting to cover up the murders.
The trial is currently adjourned until next week.
