Guilt remains the single most pervasive and strongest cultural force within the "New South Africa." One way or another we are all guilty of something, whether it be the "White Guilt" of the middle-class liberal, the historical guilt associated with colonialism and Apartheid, the guilt and confessions heard at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or personal guilt.

In the past week particularly, following the announcement of my exhibition "Guilty" at Fort Klapperkop, the right-wing have been guilty of jumping to conclusions, the press guilty of turning the resulting controversy to their advantage that they may sell more newspapers, the German Ambassador to South Africa guilty of not being able to recognise and accept the public image of his own National Police Force, the French Ambassador to South Africa guilty of not being able to respect the tradition of art that has its origins in France and French Philosophy, the Pretoria City Council guilty of not having the courage to respect the "Freedom of Expression" that our constitution so unambiguously protects and then after having agreed more than a year ago to the exhibition "Guilty," officially informing me only the day before the scheduled opening that it is cancelled and that neither I nor any other artist would even be allowed onto the premises itself. I for my part have been guilty of not backing down and insisting that the show will go on, with or without permission, with or without support from the French Cultural Institute.

The fact of the matter remains that neither my national nor my local government recognise or support contemporary art and are thus both guilty of turning their backs on every contemporary artist, critic and curator in the country. The police-force are guilty of not being able to stop the ruthless wave of crime decimating our nation. The politicians are guilty of using taxpayers money on their own Gravy Trains instead of allocating that same money to our teachers, healthcare workers and law enforcers and we are all guilty of allowing them to get away with it.

As an artist it is my responsibility to critically reflect the world I live in, for better or worse. In the past week the rightwing have been extremely vain in assuming that they are the only people in this country who may be guilty. While my work of art included everything that took place at Fort Klapperkop on Saturday 17 January 1998 between 10h00 and 24h00 and on Sunday 18 January 1998 between 10h00 and 19h00, the piece is far broader than that and includes all the banners and posters erected around and in between Johannesburg and Pretoria, all the press coverage, urban legends (for instance that I for instance A: paint and B: that I do so using excrement) as well as all the discussions, arguments and controversy surrounding the work.

It was always my intention to close and symbolically close and occupy Fort Klapperkop in the name of art exactly 100 years after President Paul Kruger opened it in the name of the Transvaal Republic. For the "opening ceremony" that had been scheduled for noon on Sunday 18 January 1998 I flew over Fort Klapperkop in an airplane with the words "GUILTY SKULDIG MOLATO NETYALO" (Guilty in English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa) suspended behind it. After circling Fort Klapperkop a few times the airplane then flew over Fort Skanskop, the Voortrekker Monument, the Pretoria Central Prison, Paul Kruger's House, the Pierneef Museum, National Cultural History Museum, the Hendrik Verwoed Hospital, Union Buildings, the Presidency, Pretoria Art Museum, Loftus Versveld Rugby Stadium, Anton van Wouw's house and then back to Fort Klapperkop, repeated until 13h00.

The final component to the work consists of a Nedbank bank account (Rosebank branch) opened in the name of "Guilty." (Account number: 2958 573184) The sole signatory to the account is Dr Lydia de Waal, (Director of Museums and Culture Development for the Pretoria City Council within whose department Fort Klapperkop resides) and any funds deposited into the account will be used exclusively for the restoration and development of Fort Klapperkop and its museum. Given that French Embassy withdrew their support for the exhibition on the grounds that it provoked "controversy outside the artistic sphere" which would have included a fully illustrated retrospective catalogue of my work, I would like to hereby challenge them to deposit the money (estimated at around R50 000,00) that had been allocated to "Guilty" into this account. I am issuing this challenge particularly in light of the fact that it was the French Embassy who had invited me to produce the exhibition at Fort Klapperkop in the first place.

Furthermore given that it was as a result of the objections raised by the German Ambassador to the image on the invitation that French support for the exhibition was withdrawn, that the German Embassy also make a healthy donation to the fund. Similarly I invite all the people who have either in the press or on the radio expressed their support for me, as well as all the people who have been very vocal in their condemnation of me (Pretoria City Council, Afrikaner Volkswag, Aksie Vrouekrag, Radio Pretoria, Fred Rundle, Mrs B Coetzee, etc) to also put their money where their mouths are and make a small donation to this account that Fort Klapperkop may ultimately be preserved for generations to come. Together with the Goodman Gallery, I have already made the first deposits.