Online Reporter
When the Limpopo farmer and his employee shot two women who were scavenging for food then fed them to pigs, it was not for the first time that they were shooting at people collecting expired food meant for pigs on the farm.
This was the testimony of Adrian Rudolf de Wet, who was with Zachariah Olivier on the evening of August 17 when they allegedly shot at a group of people who were looking for the expired food on the farm.
Maria Makgato and Lucadia Ndlovu were killed. Ndlovu’s husband, who was with them, was also shot but managed to escape.
“It was not for the first time; that is how we used to shoot when chasing people away,” De Wet testified. “
(But) Olivier always shot straight (at them).”
He also added that there had been “plenty of times” that family and friends warned them that if they continue shooting at people scavenging for expired food on the farm, they may kill them and end up in jail.
Teary son of woman whose body was fed to pigs relives trauma
The 22-year-old son of the woman killed while scavenging for food on a Limpopo farm says he had waited outside the property when police went to look .
“Zachariah Olivier’s wife warned us that night that if we kill people, we will end up in jail.”
De Wet, Olivier and William Musora, 50, were arrested a few days after the women’s deaths.
They were charged with, among others, murder, attempted murder, employing an illegal immigrant who does not possess a work permit and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Musora, a Zimbabwean national, faces a further charge of contravention of the Immigration Act, as it has been established that he is in SA illegally.
The state has since withdrawn charges against De Wet, who is now a state witness.
Testifying at the Polokwane High Court on Wednesday, De Wet said it was never their intention to kill people, only to chase them away.
He also said though they foresaw that they could injure people, they proceeded with the shooting.
“He (Olivier) told me we are going to fire warning shots – to chase away people.
But there was always a possibility that we could injure or kill people.”
The trial continues. — Sowetan.
