One of the men implicated in the brutal murder of two women who were shot and then fed to pigs on a Limpopo farm has complained about life behind bars, saying he is struggling because he is imprisoned with black inmates.
In letters written to his family and friends, Adrian Rudolph De Wet described his time in prison as unbearable and claimed that he faces threats of rape and death from other inmates. “Sometimes I wish I could not wake up. My life in prison is not easy because I am mainly the only white person in the prison, with other thousands of black inmates. There is one guy who is my friend here; he protects me from inmates who try to r@pe me or murd3r me,” he wrote.
The letters were read aloud at the Polokwane High Court, where De Wet’s employer, pig farmer Zacharia Olivier, is currently on trial alongside another farmworker, William Musora, a Zimbabwean national. The three men were arrested and charged with multiple offences, including murder and attempted murder, following the deaths of Maria Makgato and Lucadia Ndlovu, who were reportedly scavenging for expired food meant for Olivier’s pigs when they were shot and thrown into a pigsty.
De Wet later turned state witness against his former boss and colleague. During Wednesday’s court session, Olivier’s lawyer, Jacobus Venter, presented De Wet’s letters and used them to question his credibility and motives.
However, prosecutors objected to selective quoting from the correspondence, prompting the judge to rule that the letters be read in full to provide complete context. One of the most striking passages revealed remorse from De Wet over his actions. “There are people who want to see me dead in this prison. I wish we had listened to your advice. You warned us to stop shooting at the people who come to steal at the farm, but we never listened,” he wrote.
The disturbing revelations in court added new layers to a case that has shocked South Africans with its brutality.
