‘On this I’m not neutral.’

‘The police will want to know what our links with the Land Collective are, how close we are to them. You’ve told me everything, right?’

‘I’ve told you everything you need to know.’

‘So what now?’

‘You have to do what you have to do, Anton. That’s the advice someone gave me just now. I guess it’s the same for you.’

A few hours later, close to midnight in South Africa, Radio 702 broke the story. Within minutes every other radio station and TV channel was onto it. Police had arrested – that was what the press release said – and charged a suspect in the Lesedi Motlantshe murder case. The police released a mug-shot of Sharmi Meer. She was almost smiling. Defiant. The statement said the police were now looking for other members of what they called an ‘underground terror cell known as the Land Collective’. One, an employee of SABC, had already handed himself in. The identities of two others were known and police were searching for them. All border posts and airports had been alerted. The photos of François Nel and Kagiso Rapabane were grainy blow-ups of snapshots. Police were also keen to question a British national, thought to have had close links with the cell and in South Africa without a work permit.

There was a quote from Lieutenant General Jackson Sibande, police chief in Mpumalanga Province. ‘This vile crime was an insult to the peace-loving people of Mpumalanga. We said we would find the culprits and that is just what we have done. Now justice will take its course, as it always does in our free and beautiful country.’

The press attaché at the British High Commission in Pretoria was woken up by a journalist. It was the first she’d heard of the story. A while later the High Commission released a statement: ‘The High Commission is aware of the arrest of a British national in connection with the recent disturbances. Consular assistance is being given and High Commission staff will, of course, be cooperating with the South African authorities.’

Overnight in London, South Trust’s Twitter account announced a press conference at seven the next morning in connection with the recent disturbances associated with land sales in South Africa. There would be a statement from the Trust’s director.