THE EMOTIONAL nature of the public debate surrounding a painting of South African president Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed has spilled into the high court, where the African National Congress is seeking to have it banned.
A heated exchange between ANC lawyer Gcina Malindi and Judge Neels Claassen yesterday over arguments surrounding the case involving artist Brett Murray’s painting The Spear left Mr Malindi in tears. The case was adjourned to an unspecified date.
Initially the ANC wanted images of The Spear removed from the website of the City Press newspaper and from display at Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery, but in court yesterday the former liberation movement called for it to be banned completely.
The ruling party claims the painting is racist and violates Mr Zuma and the ANC’s right to “dignity”, in terms of the constitution. City Press and the gallery say banning the artwork curtails their right to freedom of speech and artistic expression.
Those who support the artist’s work believe Mr Zuma’s sexual history – he was acquitted in 2006 of rape charges, he has been married six times and has 20 children – combined with his public profile means the artistic depiction is not unreasonable.
It is unclear why Mr Malindi’s emotions got the better of him, but before his breakdown, Judge Claassen asked him if the ANC would still be making a case if South Africa’s last white president, FW de Klerk, was the subject of the painting.
Judge Claassen also asked why the race issue had been introduced to the case when a number of people who support the painting’s display are black.
“But [we] also have three black people saying that that picture is not necessarily to be interpreted as insulting. So it’s black against black. So where does the racial question come in?” Judge Claassen asked.
“They are seeing art through the eyes of the elite class,” Mr Malindi replied. “It’s not to say black people don’t have greater appreciation of the arts.
“Black people also have high levels of appreciation of these things, but it is an elitist approach to where rights in South Africa must be pitched.”
He added that the elitist view was that the most liberal approach should be taken without taking the cultural background of the masses into account.
Earlier, the court heard Murray had been told by the Goodman Gallery that some of the works in his latest exhibition would not be displayed because they might offend Muslim and Jewish viewers.
However, Mr Malindi conceded that dignity and privacy rights did not apply to Mr Zuma’s office as president of the country or the ANC, because of the public nature of the position.
The painting has led to widespread public debate in South Africa about where the balance between freedom of expression and the right to dignity exists.
On Tuesday two men – one black and one white – entered the Goodman Gallery and defaced the painting with red and black paint. Both claimed to have acted independently, saying the painting was insulting to the presidency.
After the hearing, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe called on people to boycott the City Press newspaper.
“All peace-loving South Africans should not buy City Press on Sunday, until they remove the painting on their website and publicly apologise,” Mr Mantashe said.
