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Uys packs a fun punch at politics of power

– Edward Tsumele, The Sowetan,13 February 2009

Of the two pictures supplied by Pieter-Dirk Uys for his new show, one is that of a contemplative figure.

Alongside it is a caption that reads: “President Motlanthe — an interim in search of identity. The most recent member of the ANC Collective Leadership to steer the ship of State away from the rocks of corruption and arrogance. Comrade Motlanthe looks up the meaning of the word: does interim also mean incumbent?”

In the other one, which is more controversial, Uys is holding up what looks like an AK47 ready to shoot . It reads: “Evita Bezuidenhout, a future wife to Jacob Zuma? She stands under the symbol of the House of Mshowerlozi. His Umshini Wami is close at hand. What next?”

These two pictures and their accompanying captions, in essence, summarise the kind of political satirist that Uys is.

He has elevated the character of Evita to that of an institution.

If cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro is enemy number 1 to the political establishment, Uys is his equivalent on stage. Ironically, Uys has not got into the sort of trouble Shapiro has.

Uys is at it again, and this time he has come up with a hard- hitting political satire entitled Election and Erections to be performed at the Johannesburg Theatre from March 3 to March 15.

I meet the satirist at his favourite hangout in Johannesburg — De la Creme restaurant on Seventh Street in Melville.

Interviewing Uys is always thought provoking and full of humour and political innuendos. For more than two decades, many a politician has been at the receiving end of his wit and sharp tongue.

First it was the apartheid politicians, and now it is the new South Africa politicians.

“I am not quite sure if the politicians come to my shows,” he says.

“They are probably afraid, and if they come I think they do so when the lights have been dimmed.

“I remember Pik Botha [the former minister of Foreign Affairs] used to sneak in through the back door.

“I also know that Mathews Phosa also attends the shows in a similar fashion,” he says.

Election and Erections is about the impending elections and how, according to Uys, it has become so necessary for people to lie publicly about which party they will vote for.

Once they are inside that box, alone, they do the right thing by voting according to their conscience.

“But of course people now have a choice as they can vote for Evita’s People’s Party , which is complete with its own manifesto and website at www.epp.org.za.

“The thing is — there is simply too much intolerance as some people want to be in power forever.

“However with the emergence of Cope onto the political scene, politics has become interesting once more, and hopefully we will see democracy at play during the coming elections,” he says.

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