By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Free State police have arrested two suspects in connection with the fatal shooting of seven people at the Lismore Farm in Kestell district.
The two men, aged 22 and 34 years, were arrested on a road just outside Bohlokong township on Saturday morning.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said that two firearms, a shotgun and a pellet gun believed to have been stolen from the same farmhouse were also recovered, with the possibility that one of the firearms could be the murder weapon.
The farm owner made the horrific discovery of seven butchered bodies of farm workers inside his house on a farm.
The seven bodies were of at least six women and a young man, all believed to be farm workers at a farm, near Harrismith in the Free State.
The names and ages of the deceased are currently unknown.
In a separate incident, three bodies burnt beyond recognition were discovered inside a torched car at a farm in Pienaar outside Nelspruit in Mpumalanga on Friday.
Police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli said a farm worker discovered the vehicle and called police.
“According to the information, a farm worker went to the farm around 2pm where he noticed upon arrival that the farm gate was open, while he recalled that on Monday, July 11, 2022 the gate was locked when they left. On closer inspection, he realised that there was a car, a Hyundai i10 which was burnt,” he said.
The farm worker soon realised that there were human remains in the burnt vehicle.
“Police went to the scene where they found that actually the remains were for three people, one in the driver’s seat, as well as in the passenger seat and in the boot of the vehicle,” said Mdhluli.
The identity of the three slain people is unknown at this stage.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated by police. The motive for the killing is also unknown at this stage.