It’s been 23 years since Fokofpolisiekar debuted, and Francois van Coke remains one of South Africa’s most influential musicians in the Afrikaans rock scene. With one of his seminal albums reaching the 20 year mark, he shows no signs of slowing down.
Standing near a machine churning out white smoke, Francois van Coke is barely audible over the reverberation of his band’s soundcheck.
He is illuminated by pulsing red and blue strobe lights. The drums and guitars pound through the speakers and he has to lean over and remove his in-ears. How is he doing? Mostly just trying to get through the day. He has a busy schedule ahead.
He’s standing in front of the stage at the Daisy Jones Bar in Stellenbosch for a soundcheck with Fokofpolisiekar, the band that launched him into stardom over two decades ago. Then it’s a soundcheck in Cape Town. Perform in Cape Town. Make it back in time to Stellenbosch for the show with Fokof at 22:00…
He has a brief gap for a conversation lasting all but 10 minutes before the rest is relegated to WhatsApp messages. Busy indeed.
Such is the life of one of South Africa’s most prominent Afrikaans rock musicians. Always in demand. Always with sold-out shows.
It’s been 23 years since the start of Fokofpolisiekar, 19 years since Van Coke Kartel, 5 solo albums, 8 SAMA awards. Sold out arenas at SunBet Arena in Pretoria. Collaborations with the likes of Karen Zoid, Spoegwolf and Jack Parrow, to name but a few. A book released in 2024. Preparing for a show tonight in honour of an album that just turned 20 years old.
Does Francois van Coke ever still get nervous before performing?
“Not with these guys,” he says, pointing to the stage.
Fokofpolisiekar performed at Daisy Jones Bar in Stellenbosch on 6 March 2026, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album “Swanesang”. PHOTO: Jade Wainwright
To the beginning and back
Growing up, the Dutch Reformed Church and his father’s role in it as a minister had a major influence on Van Coke’s life.
That he became Francois van Coke because of it is a story many know. After Fokofpolisiekar’s first EP, “As Jy Met Vuur Speel, Sal Jy Brand” received a review in the papers in which he was listed as Francois Badenhorst, his parents received concerned calls from the church congregation.
His mother asked him not to use their surname publicly, so by the next interview it had changed to Francois van Coke, a name pulled from an old inside joke with his bandmates.
It stuck.
From soundcheck to spotlight, Francois van Coke ignites the stage at Daisy Jones Bar in Stellenbosch on 6 March 2026. PHOTO: Supplied/ Christi De Lange
“Jy’s lekker vandag!” [You’re good today!], Van Coke says into the mic. He has joined the rest on stage for the soundcheck, a smile on his face.
From an early age, the stage has played a role in his life.
“My mom was a drama teacher and I had to take part in Eisteddfods… I despised it as a child; but I think it contributed to being able to be frontman and singer in a band,” he says in the first of his WhatsApp messages a few days later.
All these years later and Van Coke still finds himself on that stage, the frontman performing over two decades worth of artistic evolution.
“Most of [our older songs] feel like memories, and some of the songs take me back to exactly where we were say 20 years ago,” he says. Although so much has changed, performing still feels the same way it did when he was “a crazy 23-year-old”.
As an artist, he has always tried to write songs that are honest. It’s an act of vulnerability that isn’t always easy but connects people to his music.
“My core still feels exactly the same.”
Jaco “Snakes” Venter (left) and Wynand Myburgh (right) during a soundcheck at Daisy Jones Bar in Stellenbosch. Fokofpolisiekar works through a 20-song set featuring half of Swanesang and selections from their earlier albums. PHOTO: Jade Wainwright
Fokofpolisiekar and the birth of “Swanesang”
“Ons sal terrible wees sonder jou, maar ons sal okay wees!” [We’d be terrible without you, but we’ll be okay].
It’s Van Coke talking to lead guitarist Johnny De Ridder. It sparks a new vocal stim for a mic check, a slight change in direction that the others pick up without hesitation. It’s 23 years in this band together. They’ve been friends even longer than that.
“[We] will always be friends and we will probably play together until someone dies,” Van Coke says over WhatsApp later. “The balance in the band is right.”
Fokofpolisiekar was formed in Bellville in April 2003, initially as a joke to shock the conservative Afrikaans community. By 2006 they had spent 4 relentless years touring, building both a following and an opposition around their anti-establishment centered lyrics and overall rebellious image.
The band faced immense backlash following their drummer Jaco “Snakes” Venter jumping out of a moving tour van in February of that year and breaking his elbow, and a now nearly mythical, drunken incident where bassist Wynand Myburg wrote a blasphemous comment on a fan’s wallet.
Out of it, Swanesang (Swan Song) was born.
“I almost want to cry from nostalgia and gratitude that we made it through that time,” Van Coke says while thinking back to rhythm guitarist Hunter Kennedy’s lyrics for Bel vir Middelvinger.
“I still get the chills singing the bridge at all these celebration shows and that song really takes me back to where we were when we wrote that album.”
They had many drunken fights in their youth, but Van Coke says the last big one they had was in 2009. “We have been through so much, faced insane criticism and praise over the years, but found a way to keep it together.”
Louise Crouse, who has been with Van Coke and Fokofpolisiekar for 19 years now as their manager, says it has been a beautiful thing to witness their continuous evolution as humans and as artists over the years.
“They do what they do from the heart and that is why they are still here and why we still listen,” she says.
Afrikaans rocker Francois van Coke shares a quick goodbye with the Fokofpolisiekar band before he leaves for a soundcheck and show in Cape Town. PHOTO: Jade Wainwright
What a band
As soon as he’s started, Van Coke is off the stage and disappears. Performing before him tonight is a relatively new band on the Afrikaans rock scene, Dierbaar. Van Coke quite likes them. He sees himself in them and some of the younger guys on the scene.
“I hope that we gave younger artists the confidence to speak their minds and the freedom to make the music that they like,” he says.
Kris Bence, drummer for Dierbaar, later said that sharing the stage with Van Coke was a fever dream for them.
“If anyone knows how to put on a show that’ll give you an out-of-body experience, it’s Fokof,” he says. “What a band”.
Francois van Coke appears once more, backpack on, ready to wave goodbye and rush to his soundcheck in Cape Town. It’s a double high five and then he’s gone, the rest of the band continuing the soundcheck.
Just about 10 minutes as well.