Okay – let’s not beat about the bush. One thing that the Zuma Spear saga has brought to light, is the true reflection of what the political climate is about in South Africa. To the world at large, South Africa is a democracy, and we are working hard to overcome the injustices of the past and all that other bullshit. But The Spear, dear friends, The Spear, yes, one little painting, has exposed the true situation to anybody living in South Africa who thought that the image that we try to portray to the outside world is the same as it is experienced in South Africa.
For those of you who did not follow The Spear saga, I will briefly go into it. A white artist, called Brett Murray, painted a picture of President Jacob Zuma, with his private parts hanging out of his trousers, which was exhibited at The Goodman Gallery. From what I understand from this huge media debacle (and please don’t quote me as an official source of this sentiment, as it is just as I understood it), Murray attempted to say that respect is earned, and that if Zuma was an upstanding citizen who deserved respect, the painting would never have been made. It seems to have been his personal opinion about his thoughts on Zuma.
The Spear had the whole country in uproar and has clearly divided the country in two primary groups, namely those who love the painting, and accepts freedom of expression, as allowed by our constitution, and those that feel that the dignity of The President has been deeply scarred. The divide has also been said to have divided the country by racial lines, but that is not entirely true. We have heard hundreds of testimonials from white people classifying it as “disgusting” and we have heard hundreds of testimonials from black people claiming that the artist had the right of freedom of expression, and even that Zuma didn’t deserve the respect he and his supporters feel he is entitled to.
For those of you who are not aware of Zuma’s indiscretions, just a few short notes on that. He was involved in a shady arms deal. He is often associated with corruption and unlawful appointments of his personal contacts in high positions, he has had rape and various corruption charges against him, all mysteriously dropped before he became The President, and he has several wives. So, to say that he is “a promiscuous criminal” is probably a fair statement, depending on who you ask.
Back to the issue at hand. You may have heard or deducted from the article so far, that Brett Murray is a white artist. All of a sudden, this becomes an issue about race, and not about a supposedly corrupt, promiscuous politician, who happens to be our president. How dare a white man paint a black man like that? The masses are on a rampage. They are marching, and they are defacing, and they are demanding! They are destroying, they are rioting, and they are littering! They are screaming “racism” and they are insisting that Jacob Zuma’s decency has been violated. The Painting has been defaced, The Artist made out for a racist, The Gallery has been vandalized, and The Media has been forced to remove The Spear from their websites.
Our government (and the ANC) is spending millions of our taxpayer money to sue The Gallery and The Artist, and use the full power of their political arm to crush said Artist and Gallery, and cry racism all at the same time. One day the world’s eyes will open and the word “racist” will mean nothing to them, just as it is starting to lose its true meaning to the masses swept into a frenzy by the ANC.
Although Jacob Zuma argues that his children and grand children are bearing the brunt of ridicule from their class mates and colleagues, which is probably true, he should’ve “kept his nose clean”. If he was the upstanding citizen that he wants to be portrayed as, none of this would’ve happened.
Let’s face it, we all have skeletons and some shady things in our past, but we are not all The State President of South Africa, a very, VERY public position that comes with a certain responsibility to inspire his people, and to, yes, you’ve guessed it, “keep his nose clean.” Chances are that his children and grand children were already the joke of the town, albeit less public.
Fast-forward about two weeks ahead, and we have had talks about lawsuits, major marches, the defacing of The Painting, cries of racism, and generally a huge hullabaloo about something that started as freedom of expression, and ended as racism.
According to certain media talk-show hosts, The Artist, The Gallery and The ANC have come to a currently unknown agreement regarding this, and a popular newspaper’s editor has, depending on who you ask, “been forced to remove The Spear from their website” or “decided to see that good intentions caused too much harm and decided to take it off”. Where am I on this point? I believe she has been forced, and buckled under the pressure.
With the agreement, and a supposedly “peaceful march” to the gallery today (which is causing a whole lot of traffic problems in an already chaotic Johannesburg, by the way), the unnamed media talk-show host mentioned that we are now starting the process of “National Healing”. National healing. Seriously? That’s what you’re going with? National healing? Wow.
Was the roles reversed, and a black artist painted a prominent white political figure in the same manner, would we have national healing then? No. We would possibly have outrage, and we would possibly have discussions and talks of lawsuits. But would we have national healing? No. Why not? Because the minority group who would be violated in the reversed situation would be insignificant. Although the majority of the minority group would probably feel angry about the incident, had it been reversed, the majority of the minority would still be a drop in the population bucket of South Africa. National healing? No chance. It would simply have been swept under the carpet like everything else that is supposedly shady and bad.
When Julius Malema sang “Kill The Boer” songs, and thereby advocated racial violence, was there any outrage? Check. Were there angry white people? Check. Were there court cases? Check. Was there an uproar among the involved minority group? Check, check, check and CHECK. But was there NATIONAL HEALING? No. It simply died out with a slap on the wrist for Julius Malema, and a court ruling that “He should not sing the songs at national gatherings of the ANC” or something to that effect. The big thing about this ruling was that in personal capacity he, and everybody in the country, could continue to sing the so-called “struggle songs”, as long as it is not in official capacity of the ANC (or so I have heard). So, anybody can sing these “struggle songs” whenever they want, as long as it is in private capacity, yet, nobody may say the dreaded “K” word.
If the article by TheFridaFactor is anything to go by, and if the fact that I am angry and sick and tired, my views may be considered racist, then so be it. I will then be gladly called a racist.