MAKOPOTONG, LIMPOPO – Ranti Makgato, 25, is haunted by nightmares. He sees his mother, Mariah Makgato, lying among pigs, her body decomposing, flesh missing.
This horrific image is a constant reminder of the brutal murders of his mother and his mother’s friend 34-year-old ZImbabwean woman Lucy Ndlovu, on a farm in Makopotong, Limpopo Province in the neighbouring South Africa.
“It was a normal thing for our parents to go and find expired food at the farm. The farm owner knew that people were feeding themselves from the food dumped on his farm. He was never violent. I don’t know what led to my mother and Ndlovu being killed,” said Ranti, his voice heavy with grief.
Poverty had forced Ranti to drop out of school during Grade 11, leaving him to shoulder the responsibility of supporting his three siblings.
“Our father disappeared in 2011. My mother has single-handedly raised us with odd jobs. She went to the farm to find us something to eat. As the first-born child, I had to drop out of school and help my mother. I also did odd jobs in the village and Polokwane to help my three siblings because my mother struggled. I couldn’t sit and watch my mother battling to find us food,” he explained.
When his mother failed to return home, Ranti and his siblings launched a frantic search.
“We combed the village looking for her. We didn’t sleep at all that night. We even went to Ndlovu’s house to look for her husband, Mabutho Ncube, but he wasn’t there. I thought my mother and Ndlovu would return the following day. That didn’t happen. We then intensified our search. We searched at clinics, hospitals and police stations. Still, they were not found. On 19 August, Ncube came to our home wounded. He claimed he was shot on the farm, and my mother and Ndlovu were dead,” said Ranti.
Heartbroken and desperate, Ranti went to the local police station to report the incident.
“I was afraid to go to the farm alone. Throughout those two days, I never thought that my mother was dead. She was a strong woman. The following day, the police arrived, and we headed to the farm. We saw their bodies lying there decomposed. My mother was shot in her arm and leg. The flesh from her arm, torso and legs were chewed off. Someone at the farm then told me that pigs ate my mother,” Ranti said, his voice cracking with emotion.
The sight was beyond comprehension, and Ranti’s anger boiled over.
“Why kill them? Why didn’t they let them go away? Why feed them to pigs?” he cried out as his voice roared with pain.
The police had to calm him down, but the image of his mother’s body, devoured by pigs, is permanently etched in his mind.
“Her love, smile, advice, and warmth are gone. We are on our own because of poverty. Today, I am battling to sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, I see my mother’s body lying there among pigs, with some flesh missing,” said Ranti.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the community, with many expressing outrage and grief. Polokwane Mayor John Mpe, expressing his condolences, promised to look after Makgato’s children in remembrance of their mother.
Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe acknowledged the government’s failure to adequately address the family’s poverty.
“We could have come closer than now. We are here now committing to work with the province, ensuring that such families are looked after,” added Tolashe.
Meanwhile, farm owner Zachariah Olivier, 60, and his two employees, Adriaan de Wet, 19, and William Musoro, 45, appeared in the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court.
They face two counts of premeditated murder, one count of attempted murder, possession of an unlicenced firearm and ammunition, defeating the ends of justice and contravening the Immigration Act in respect of Musoro, a Zimbabwean who is allegedly illegal in the country. They are expected back in court on 10 September.
