THE ANC WOMEN'S LEAGUE CONDEMNS AYANDA MABULU'S PAINTING FEATURING PRESIDENT ZUMA NAKED

14 October 2015

The African National Congress Women's League condemns the painting which seeks to undermine the dignity of President Jacob Zuma. We seek to warn the painter, Ayanda Mabulu against abusing his freedom of expression by undermining the rights of the President to dignity.

Section 16 of the Constitution of South Africa protects the individual's right to freedom of expression. At the same time, everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected as enshrined in Section 10 of the Bill of Rights. The painting has depicted the President in a despicable manner that seeks to undermine his character and leadership of the country.

When criticizing the leadership and governance of the country one must take into account the National Development Plan, adopted as the Government strategy to eliminate poverty and inequality by 2030. The NDP was adopted by the nation in pursuit of identifying the task of improving the quality of public services as critical to achieving transformation. Government has focused on identifying and overcoming the obstacles to achieving improved outcomes, including the need to strengthen the ability of local government to fulfil its developmental role. As the ANC WL we condemn the narrow minded analysis of Government and the ill informed interpretation of Government policies such as the NDP.

We encourage discourse analysis but not a pornographic illustration that seeks to undermine The Head of State. We call on the artist to engage constructively and not taint our efforts in nation building. We must respect President Zuma and the his office. As the ANC WL, we stand behind our President and will protect him from any form unwarranted attack on his character and leadership. Protecting our President is protecting our country.

Statement issued by Thoko Xasa, ANC WL National Spokesperson, 15 October 2015