Five people have been arrested in South Africa on charges related to cannibalism after one of them walked into a police station saying that he was "tired" of eating human flesh, according to police and local media.

"I am tired of eating human flesh," the man told police, South Africa's News24 reported, while handing over part of a human leg and a hand.

On Wednesday, police spokeswoman Thembeka Mbhele confirmed that the suspects had been under arrest since Friday around the farming town of Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal province.

The arrest of the man who entered the police station led to the other arrests and the recovery of more body parts, she said.

"When he was questioned, he produced part of a human leg and a hand," News24 reported Ms Mbhele as saying.

"Further investigation led police to a house in the Rensburgdrift area in Estcourt where police were met with a foul smell, and more human remains were found."

The charges the suspects face include murder and possession of human body parts — one suspect is believed to be a traditional healer.

"It is alleged that the suspects raped, killed and cut up the body of a woman, which they then consumed," Ms Mbhele said.

"The allegations by the suspect are that they would rape and kill the victims before they could cut them into pieces and eat their parts."

Some residents confessed to eating human flesh provided by the suspect, local official Mthembeni Majola said, according to the News24 media outlet.

AP/ABC