Murders on pig farms: South Africans angered after finding bodies of women the farmer allegedly killed

Maria Makgato and Lucia Ndlovu were looking for food for a farm near Polokwane in South Africa's northern Limpopo province in August when the farm's owner, Zachariah Johannes Olivier, allegedly shot them.

We come, carry the body and give me pigs to chop up to cover up the evidence, according to the prosecution.

This issue does not cause much anger because we have still not fully recovered from the apartheid experience that we have been living through for many years.

The court now decides to grant the 60-year-old white farmer and his two employees, 19-year-old Adrian de Wet and 50-year-old William Musora, bail ahead of the murder trial.

The three men never sued in court. This is what will happen when the process begins properly.

During previous hearings, demonstrators demanded in court that the suspects remain in custody.

Walter Mathole, Maria Makgato's brother, told the BBC that the incident did not increase racial tensions between blacks and whites in South Africa, even though less than 30 years had passed since the end of the racist system of apartheid.

The three men on trial also face attempted murder charges for shooting Mabutho Ncube, the husband of Lucia Ndlovu – one of the women who died.

Mr Ncube was the boy when a shooting took place on August 17, but he managed to crawl away after the bullet hit him and later called a doctor for help.

I also report the matter to the police, who say they found the decomposing bodies of my wife and Maria Makgato at the Oga Olivier pig farm a few days later.

Mathole told the BBC that we were supposed to follow the officials in the pig farm to see the pigs partially chopping up my sister's body.

Tori says they go to this farm to look for food that hasn't expired or is close to expiring. Foods like what pigs usually chop.

Makgato's family said they were devastated by her death, especially her four sons, the eldest of whom was 22 and the youngest was just five.

“My mom died a painful death. She is a loving mother and does everything for us. We don’t lack anything from her,” her eldest son Ranti Makgato told BBC.

“I will go to sleep for the night if their alleged murderers don’t get bail,” they said.

The opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) wants to have the farm closed.

“The EFF is not prepared to stand by and allow the products from this farm to continue to be sold to the market as they are dangerous for consumers,” the party said after police found the bodies.

The South African Human Rights Commission also does not condemn the killings and calls for dialogue against racism between the affected communities.

Groups representing farmers, who are generally white, say farming communities always feel under attack because of a country that has high crime rates.

But we have no evidence that farmers are at greater risk than anyone else.

Recently, two similar incidents occurred that caused major racial tensions in South Africa.

In August, a farmer and a security guard allegedly killed two men on a farm in Laersdrift, near the town of Middleburg, in the eastern province of Mpumalanga.

Di Men bin Dey is accused of stealing sheep, and Di Farmer and Im Guard burn Dia Deadi Bodi beyond recognition.

The police do not arrest them and remain in custody while investigators carry out a DNA analysis of the remains of the dead.

In the latest case, a 70-year-old white farmer – Christoffel Stoman from Lutzville in the Western Cape – is said to have run over a six-year-old boy and broken two of his legs for stealing oranges from his farm.

Tori says the boy and I'm mom, they pass by the farm as they buy something for the town and get oranges for the soil. And in the womb they watch in horror as the farmer climbs on top of the boy with my car.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the farmer faces two charges of attempted murder and reckless driving.

Eric Ntabazalila, NPA affiliate, told the BBC that the state is rejecting the bail application because the charged sentence is on record.

Two political parties – the African Transformation Movement and the Pan Africanist Congress – want to seize Mr Stoman's farm on legal grounds.