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Protesters hold placards outside Polokwane court demanding bail denied
The shooting death of two black women and their alleged feeding to pigs by a white farmer and two of his employees has sparked outrage in South Africa.
Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, were allegedly gunned down in August as they foraged for food on a farm near Polokwane in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province.
It was then claimed that their bodies were fed to pigs, apparently for the purpose of disposing of evidence.
Will the court grant bail to farm manager Zakaria Johannes Olivier, 60, and employees Adrian de Wet, 19, and William Musola, 50, ahead of their murder trial? We have begun a hearing on the matter.
The three have not yet been called to speak in court, which is expected to be done at a later date when the trial begins.
The three suspects have been in custody since their arrest, but a magistrate has allowed media to film the incident.
Protesters demonstrated outside a courthouse in Polokwane holding placards demanding the suspect be denied bail.
The courtroom was filled with victims and defendants’ families, and Judge Nitilane Feren granted media requests to record the proceedings, saying it was in the public interest to do so.
Hours later, she adjourned the bail hearing until November 6 to allow for further investigation, and the suspects remained in custody.
Earlier, Mr Makgat’s brother Walter Mahale told the BBC that the incident had further exacerbated racial tensions between black and white South Africans.
The problem is particularly prevalent in the country’s rural areas, even though apartheid, a racist system, was abolished 30 years ago.
The three men appearing in court in Polokwane are also charged with attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm for shooting at Ms Ndlovu’s husband, who was with the women at the farm.
Mabso Ncube survived the ordeal on Saturday night, August 17, crawled away and managed to seek medical help.
He reported the incident to the police and said that a few days later officers found the decomposed bodies of his wife and Mr Makgat in the pigsty.
Mattole said he was with officers and saw a horrifying sight inside the pig pen: the body of his sister, partially eaten by the animals.
The group reportedly went to farms looking for edible food items among consignments of produce that had recently expired or were about to expire. These were sometimes left on farms and fed to pigs.
Magath family
Maria Maggat was a single mother with four sons, ranging in age from 5 to 22.
Makato’s family said they were devastated by her murder, especially her four sons, ages 22 to 5.
“Although my mother died a painful death, she was a loving mother who did everything for us. Because of her, we lacked nothing,” said her eldest son. One Ranti Makgat tearfully told the BBC:
“I think I will sleep better at night if the murder suspect is denied bail,” he added.
The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party called for the farm to be closed.
After the bodies were discovered, the EFF said: “We cannot stand by and allow products made on this farm to continue to be sold as they pose a risk to consumers.”
The South African Human Rights Commission condemned the killings and called for anti-racism dialogue among affected communities.
Courtrooms in Polokwane were packed for the incident, which exacerbated racial tensions.
Groups representing predominantly white farmers say rural areas feel under attack in a country with high crime rates, but farmers are at greater risk than anyone else. There is no evidence that.
There have been two other recent incidents that have exacerbated racial tensions.
In eastern Mpumalanga province, a farmer and his security guard were arrested in August on suspicion of killing two men on their farm in Leas Drift, near the small town of Middleburg.
The two men, whose bodies were burned and unrecognizable, were charged with stealing the sheep.
The suspect remains in custody pending DNA testing of the remains.
In a recent incident, a 70-year-old white farmer is accused of stealing oranges from his farm and running his car over a 6-year-old boy, breaking both his legs.
The bail hearing for Christoffel Stomann, of Lutsville, Western Cape, is ongoing.
The court heard that the mother and son were walking past the farm on their way into town to buy groceries.
The six-year-old boy is said to have stopped to pick up an orange from the ground, and his mother watched in horror as the farmer mowed him down.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that the farmer has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and reckless driving.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazarira told the BBC that the state was opposing the defendant’s bail application.
Two political parties, the Movement for African Change and the Pan-Africanist Congress, are calling for the expropriation of Stomann’s farm following the incident.
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