‘Okay, okay. But just say the word.’ Sensing her irritation, and eager to keep her on the line for a full report, he changed the subject. ‘What’s your take on things so far?’

‘Well, I’ve had a real stroke of luck. Turns out the son of our old housekeeper – I’ve told you the story – he runs an outfit in Mpumalanga that supports black farmers.’

‘What’s it called? I’ll look it up while we’re talking.’

‘Soil of Africa. He rules out the whole Mozambican thing.’

‘That was bloody obvious from the start.’

‘Hang on – I’m just taking you through this bit by bit. My contact at the Wits Migration Unit says there’ll be plenty of work for us on xenophobia once all this has died down. The other thing he’s adamant about is that the killing had nothing to do with the Land Collective’s campaign of violence.’

‘Who’s this? Your Wits person?’

‘No, Kagiso, the guy from Soil of Africa.’

‘How would he know? Okay, I’ve got it. His name is Rapabane, right?’

‘Yeah, that’s him.’

‘Joint irrigation scheme with neighbouring white farmer, a bosberaad between commercial farmers and smallholders, nice colour photo and all that … Hmm, pretty standard stuff.’

‘What are you on about?’

‘I’m looking at your friend’s website. I wouldn’t rule it out, the Land Collective I mean.’

‘Kagiso thinks killing Lesedi Motlantshe is so counter-productive no one in their right mind would even have considered it.’

‘I’m not so sure. Shit happens when you’re in a war.’

‘Yeah, but this is not a war.’

‘It is for the Land Collective. Look, back in the struggle, we had all those qualms about what was a legitimate target and so on, but every now and then somebody would go off the rails and we’d have a PR disaster. It’s the same now. I doubt if this Land Collective thing is anything like as organised as we were.’

‘I think Kagiso reckons it could be the government.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, he didn’t give me the low-down, but he says Lesedi was a good man and that is why he wanted to talk to the people at Soil of Africa on the day he died. He wanted to make a difference.’

‘And that was enough for the Pretoria boys to knock him off? It’s possible – anything is possible. Look, I wouldn’t put it past those bastards but it’s a long shot, no pun intended. I’d keep an open mind. Don’t rule out the Land Collective.’

‘I’m not ruling it out but getting to them could be tricky. I asked Kagiso and he thinks it’s impossible.’

‘How much do you trust this guy?’

‘Kagiso? He’s like family.’

A snort at the other end of the line. ‘That was twenty years ago. Time passes, things change – people change.’