The Slaughterhouse

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A case in South Africa, where two black women were murdered and fed to pigs on a white-owned farm, has sparked outrage and protests across the country, while also reigniting a debate over the issues of race and land ownership in the country, the New York Times reported.

On Tuesday, protests broke out outside of a court in Polokwane where three men have been accused of killing the two women, who were scavenging for food. The accused include the White farm owner and two employees, one of whom is White, reported BBC. The other is a Zimbabwean national, reported the Associated Press.

They are accused of shooting Maria Makgatho, 44, and Lucia Ndlovu, 35, who were hunting for food on a farm in the Limpopo Province, northeast of Johannesburg near Polokwane in mid-August. Afterward, the three men allegedly attempted to hide the bodies by dumping them in a pigsty.

Police found the victims’ bodies decomposed and partly eaten.

Makgatho’s husband was also shot but survived to detail the shooting, prosecutors said.

The farm was well known to surrounding community residents as a place to go for discarded food. Makgatho and Ndlovu had allegedly trespassed on the farm after a truck from a dairy company dumped expired goods there.

Violent crimes on South Africa’s farms have been a concern for years, including violence and abuse against the farmers themselves. White farmers say that they have been targets of attacks by intruders and that their lives are often threatened, the Associated Press wrote.

Meanwhile, the case has renewed a date on land disparity and wealth inequality in South Africa following apartheid: Then, many Black South Africans were forced from their land. Currently, most farms remain under White ownership. Also, many Black South Africans in rural areas still live in poverty, resulting in the need to scavenge for food on farms.

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