Makhanda's National Arts Festival isn't merely a showcase for South Africa's talent, it also serves as a mirror of the nation's soul.

One year, in the early 2000s, the comedically zef duo Corné and Twakkie staged a protest at the National Arts Festival (NAF) against Tony Lankester, who for 12 years was in charge of the country's biggest and longest-running arts festival. The plucky tricksters were on a zany crusade for change.

"We marched into Lankester's office," says Rob van Vuuren, aka Twakkie, a cringe-worthy hyper-South African character possessed of a massive snor (moustache) and raging mullet whose presence had become intricately entwined with the festival.

"We handed him a polony, which I think was supposed to be a threat, and we gave him a list of demands. Things like 'less Shakespeare' and 'more Knight Rider on TV'."

The point? Pure ridiculousness, for one.

But their absurd tirade also represented something fundamental to the very spirit of the festival: that it is a place where artists can be heard, no matter what their beef (or polony) is. This value placed on creative freedom has been fundamental to the NAF since its inception in 1974 when it became a battleground for cultural inclusivity; a home to creative expression that eschewed the racial divides and censorship of the bigoted apartheid regime.

Ismail Mahomed, who...