sapsTimesLIVE reports that according to Mpumalanga police, the two men who were shot dead last Friday on a farm at Bampoen outside Mkhondo had gone to the farm in search of employment.

In a statement, Colonel Donald Mdhluli said the two men were part of a group who had gone to the farm to ask for seasonal work. He reported as follows: "It is said that the farm owner informed these men that they are not welcome on his premises. It is said that those who came to ask for employment then decided to leave the farm but later realised that one of them was left behind. They then went back only to find that he was kept at the farm by the suspects. It is said that as the men demanded that they let him go, a scuffle broke where two men were reportedly shot and died at the scene. Three other men sustained serious injuries." Pictures of the lifeless bodies of the two men lying on the farm just metres apart from each other were circulated online last week. Four farmers were arrested hours after the shooting. They were scheduled to appear in the Piet Retief Magistrate's Court on Monday to face charges of murder and assault.


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