the descent into hell of the group Die Antwoord

LETTER FROM JOHANNESBURG

The disturbing universe of the group Die Antwoord no longer fascinates. At the beginning of the 2010s, the crazy duo became the most famous South African musical group abroad with their psychedelic rap-electro with an agonizing aesthetic which depicts the South African “white trash” everyday life and that Cape Town’s ultra-violent gangs. Already hit by several controversies, the couple Watkin Tudor Jones, alias “Ninja”, and Anri du Toit, alias “Yolandi Visser”, must now face their adopted son, who accuses him of abuse and says he fears sexual violence on his sister in a forty-five-minute video taken up in late April by the South African press.

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Adopted at the age of 9, Gabriel du Preez, known as “Tokkie”, grew up in Vrededorp, a miserable neighborhood near downtown Johannesburg. He suffers from a genetic disease responsible in particular for severe malformations of the teeth. With this handicap and his shaggy hair, the little one seems straight out of the group’s clips. It won’t take long to play in it. In 2010, “Tokkie” crossed paths with one of the duo’s collaborators, Ben Jay Crossman, who took a picture of him. Seeing the image, Anri du Toit and Watkin Tudor Jones ask to meet the child. They adopt it immediately. His mother, who has little to offer him in the face of the success of Die Antwoord, thinks it will be ” a good experience “.

“You’re the weird thing”

Aged 20, “Tokkie” now claims to have been used as ” an accessory “. In 2012, he became the face of the group’s most famous clip, I Fink You Freeky and I Like You a Lot (“I think you’re weird and I like you a lot”). Made in collaboration with the famous South African photographer Roger Ballen, it has been viewed more than 170 million times on YouTube. “I watched this video a lot and showed it to my mother. When she saw her, she said to me: “They are using you, you are the weird thing”.says “Tokkie”.

Above all, Gabriel du Preez describes a sordid childhood bathed in violence, drugs, sex and loneliness. After adopting him, the group welcomes him to their home in an upscale neighborhood of Johannesburg. Most often, he is alone, while the musicians travel to the four corners of the world. For two years, they will leave him at home with a babysitter, while they are settled in Los Angeles.

When his adoptive parents are there, it’s chaos. People smoke and consume all kinds of substances next to him, naked women walk around the house, “Ninja” asks “Tokkie” to roll his joints for him, accuses Gabriel du Preez. The duo, who often depict the world of Cape Town townships in their clips in the form of short films, frequent the city’s gangs. A killer nicknamed “Anies” becomes “Tokkie’s” friend. He has since been murdered. Gabriel du Preez also evokes a ” training camp “ where he would have learned to handle “all kinds of weapons” for a month, as well as strange rituals.

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