THE ANC alliance bused in members for a march on the Goodman Gallery yesterday to protest against a painting that has been reviled, defaced and removed. The ruling party was also insisting on a further apology from editor Ferial Haffajee whose newspaper City Press first brought The Spear by Brett Murray to the public’s attention, even after she had pulled an image of it from the newspaper’s website.
These bully-boy tactics indicate that there is a lot more at play here than upset and offence over a painting with President Zuma in a Lenin pose with his genitals exposed.
It is clear that The Spear has insulted not only Zuma but many other South Africans, and that it had opened deep wounds which had not yet healed 18 years into democracy.
But it is also apparent that the furore is now being stage-managed for political gain by some very senior members of the ruling alliance, among them secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu.
They had demanded the gallery take down the portrait – which it did. And that the gallery apologise – which it did. And that City Press remove the image from its website – which it did. And they sought a court order to force compliance with their wish.
Not satisfied to await a court ruling, they continued to incite their followers by arranging continued protests against the gallery and newspaper.
What’s next?
With the two men who defaced the painting being celebrated as heroes by the ANC, it won’t come as a surprise if the party pushes for charges against the two vandals to be dropped.
Bullying and threats are instruments of intolerance, designed to intimidate others and are unbecoming of a party which has a decent history of progressive ideas, reason and debate.
And while some were fanning the fire, where were the voices of reason to cool things down? Someone in Luthuli House is feeling jittery, and it’s clearly no longer just about a painting.