Part of a series of drawings translating iscamtho urban idioms into Indigenous script, Fede fokol (2017) explores the hybridity and rhythm of township language. The phrase, loosely meaning “nothing much”, is a common response to a greeting—yet its significance lies in the fusion of isiNtu (“fede”) and Afrikaans (“fokol”).
This blending is characteristic of iscamtho as a creolised language practice, weaving together isiZulu, Sesotho, English, Afrikaans, and others into living, breathing sentence structures. Sandile captures this linguistic fluidity and coded expression through the isiBheqe soHlamvu syllabary, laid out in a tight grid of geometric precision inspired by amabheqe glyphs.
The result is a minimalist yet culturally rich visual idiom—a statement on presence, identity, and multilingual survival in the postcolonial city. As with the rest of the series (Ezikhala Kamnandi, Ziph’ zona lezo, Kusha ingudu), Fede fokol makes language visible, placing everyday utterances within the frame of Indigenous epistemology and speculative cartography.
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