Reframing farm murders

If possession is nine-tenths of the law, perception must surely be nine-tenths of sentiment. A recent spate of high-profile farm murders in the Western Cape has once again highlighted how crucial reputation management is to the future success of SA.

The same applies to Ace Magashule shooting his mouth off about quantitative easing, or public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane claiming that the only person she is answerable to is God.

None of these events instils a sense of confidence in a would-be investor. For this reason, Ramaphosa had better place reputation management as high up on his to-do list as items such as policy reform and rooting out corruption.

If you don’t believe that reputation and sentiment play a significant role in the decisions made by individuals, firms and financial markets, consider for a moment the phenomenon known as Ramaphoria.

We are all aware of the effect Ramaphosa’s reputation as an intelligent, pro-business and savvy negotiator had on business confidence. As soon as he took his oath of office markets rallied, the rand strengthened more than 4%, and every talking head in the country (myself included) suggested there was hope on the horizon. Of course, we also all knew that the economic fundamentals and structural problems that plagued our economy hadn’t changed over a matter of days: Magashule, Mkhwebane, Eskom, SAA and a host of other problems didn’t just go away overnight — but sentiment changed.

The reason I raise the issue of farm murders is because of the significant impact they have had on the country’s reputation and that of the government — both at home and abroad — and how this affects sentiment.

Anyone who has spent any time interrogating the figures will know that the notion of a white genocide is hyperbole and isn’t supported by reliable data. But it almost doesn’t matter.

As Ramaphoria showed us, few people bother to look beyond the headlines, let alone dive into the relative crime statistics.

As political activist and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig famously said: “If you are explaining, you’re losing. It’s a bumper sticker culture … Three seconds to understand, or you lose.”

The fact of the matter is that SA is a violent place.

We have unacceptably high levels of violent crime in all spheres and sectors of society. It doesn’t matter if these murders happen on a farm, a township or a suburban home — any murder in our country is one too many.

The danger of doing nothing

The trouble is that by ignoring this issue or playing it down, the government creates the space for others to step in and control the message — and by extension, play a role in shaping the country’s reputation.

The reason that the “white genocide” has gained as much traction as it has, both nationally and internationally, is because the figures are horrific. The truth is that murder figures are at least as awful in other parts of SA outside the farms. But Ramaphosa has failed to present an alternative narrative to the public around farm murders, and allowed interest groups to dominate the headlines. In other words, doing nothing has done huge damage to the country’s reputation.

Take a moment to consider that 14 people were murdered on the Cape

Flats last weekend in the space of 24 hours. Most of them were teenagers and almost all the murders were gangrelated. These murders are absolutely shocking, but they received little coverage outside the Western Cape. This is not because they are less important, but because advocates against gang violence are harder to hear. The fact is, people shouldn’t be murdered on their farms any more than a 12-year-old should be shot 11 times while walking down the street in Parow.

Similarly, Ramaphosa shouldn’t be afraid to acknowledge the high numbers of murders in our country — whether they happen on farms or on the Cape Flats — and tell us how he plans to address them.

Instead, he has largely chosen to remain silent, allowing others to have a say in our reputation.

By ignoring this issue or playing it down, the government creates the space for others to step in and control the narrative