The spectacular political changes that transformed South Africa in the 1990’s brought a shift of emphasis in the country’s social rhetoric.

for an education that is neither national, nor Christian. Their prized invention was the title Civil Cooperation Bureau, their intelli-gence arm that acted as a hit-squad. Designations such as Euro-peans Only, Group Areas, Home-land Policy, Separate Development and Immorality Police set South Africa ‘apart’ from the rest of the world, and are now redundant. In a piece of concrete poetry entitled Shredded Evidence, made in January, 1997, I laid these failed aspirations to rest.

Our people in the ‘struggle’ inven-ted their own language of protest. In street marches and mass-

demonstrations they screamed out a message of total displeasure and mistrust. Those who attended mass rallies will know the rhythmic vibra-tions, chanted in the assertive

power of African languages that fill the air like thunder and make the earth sway. I believe the rest of the world has nothing that compares with the control and harmony of these melodious voices, loaded with an anger and urgency that make the windows vibrate and send shivers up the spine.

Abamfusa lawula/ The purple shall govern gives a graphic represen-tation of this dramatic vocal will and power. The necessity for driving home the messages of these slo-gans and chants no longer exists, and they too will be shelved in time. The thin horizontal lines of sheet-music run through the whole piece. They fence the slogans in and conceal an English translation, making for a ‘reading between the lines.’ The simple block-like type is an allusion to Ndebele wall-painting and the vertical ridges are intended to enhance the idea of ripples and reverberations.

Abamfusa lawula/ The purple shall govern was prepared for the Purple and Green exhibition, curated by Abrie Fourie, at the Pretoria Art Gallery. The work was begun on 2 September, 1997, ten years, to the day, after the famed purple rain incident took place in Cape Town. Police were spraying purple dye on protesters to mark them for later identification and arrest, away from the prying eye of the international

press. One daring protester jumped on the water-car and turned the dye on the police. Soon after that graffiti appeared on the city walls and even on police vehicles which stated: The purple shall govern, a clever twist from the African Freedom Charter which states that the people shall govern.