Cecil John Rhodes: British Empire Hitman

Many years ago when the Limpopo government failed to deliver books and other learning materials, the smart ones suggested that if that task had been given to the South African Breweries (SAB) those materials would have reached their intended recipients. Since then, it has been fashionable to cite the “impeccable” SAB model when individuals criticize the state and its SOEs for their service delivery failures.

The international community ought to be aware, about the Banyamulenge people in East Congo, who are at the mercy of genocide. Lack of knowledge on this human tragedy, may be based on the limited access to both local and international media, caused by the combination of political hostility and worsened by the lack of basic transport infrastructure in East Congo.

In art criticism ‘nonrepresentational’ is a synonym for ‘abstract’. Used here, it draws attention to the fact that we do not represent the artists in the show, and it echoes the term ‘invitational’, an Americanism that describes a sports tournament open by invitation only.

The universal tropes that the artist explores in these seven works are so immense, so all-encompassing and so in urgent need of addressing that we are encouraged to pause here, to slow down, tiger, and to take in the erratic year that has been both the longest and the shortest time.

In the song Thuma Mina (Send Me), Hugh Masekela pens the lyrics “I wanna be there when the people start to turn it around”, which rings true to the very first words in South Africa’s Constitution, “We, the People”.

Poets do not die, / They flutter / militantly / Transposing eventualities / and acuity / death is alchemy / and range / it is paramountcy / Transcendence