Modise's adviser denies anyone tried to help her

Thandi Modise's political adviser has denied that North West farmers offered to help solve the NCOP chairwoman's farming problems, according to a report.

In Sunday's Rapport newspaper, Bejani Chauke further denied anyone warned him about a crisis on the farm.

He was reacting to comments by Agri North West's executive manager Boeta du Toit that Modise said at a meeting that it was not going well with her farm Modderfontein, near Potchefstroom. She was still North West premier at that stage.

Du Toit told Rapport he put Chauke in touch with Meadow Feeds, a company that supplies livestock feed. The company's Ferdi van Aswegen went to the farm on November 6, 2013, to assess the matter and deliver five tons of feed which Chauke had ordered.

Van Aswegen said what he saw was "heartbreaking" and "shocking" and a worker told him the animals had last been fed two weeks ago. He subsequently called Chauke.

"I let him know to order more feed quickly as this would only last a week or two."

Agri North West's deputy executive manager Naude Pienaar told Rapport: "We really went the extra mile to try and help her".

Last Saturday, police and officials of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) officials went to the farm and found dead and dying animals. Several of them had to be put down.

There were no farmworkers on the property, no electricity, and the water pumps were broken.

The SPCA has said it would lay criminal charges against those responsible.