fokofpolisiekar (fuck off police car) is an iconic South African punk rock band. Formed in Cape Town in the early 2000s the band’s scorching lyrics, which challenged their Afrikaner heritage and uncompromising punk attitude, soon ensured them an army of fans.
Wynand Myburgh, the bassist of fokofpolisiekar said that if it had not been for the existence of Johannes Kerkorrel and Koos Kombuis he would not have been able to have become a musician. In the press release that accompanied the release of fokofpolisiekar’s first album the band said that Rabie and Kombuis had been major inspirations.
Lead singer Francois van Coke who had been too young to attend the Voëlvry tour concerts, has acknowledged that he grew up listening to the music of Rabie, Bernoldus Niemand and Kombuis and that without the legacy of their lyrics, he would not have “played music”.
Furthermore van Coke has said that fokofpolisiekar and the Voëlvry musicians battled the same issues -traditional Afrikaner values and institutions, including the church. For the Voëlvry musicians, since apartheid was such a hated and universally maligned ideology, their criticism of the Nationalist government could not be misinterpreted. van Coke has said that in the New South Africa it is more difficult for a white, Afrikaans band to censure the current government, for fear of the criticism being misconstrued as being “racist”.
Read more about fokofpolisiekar at their official website fokofpolisiekar
Read more about the Shifty September celebrations over here Shifty September