Dr. Pieter Mulder: FF Plus Leader, Budget Vote Debate: Presidency (Pres. Zuma), Parliament, May 30 2012
Speaker
The Goodman Gallery and the painting of the honourable President Zuma this week led to serious debates in South Africa. These debates said more about the good and bad state of relationships in South Africa than it did of the painting.
A number of examples: The Afrikaans radio held a phone-in program of an hour about the painting. Eighty percent of the people who had phoned proposed that the painting should be removed immediately because it is in poor taste and is offensive. The majority of these callers were Afrikaans and white.
In a similar program on the English radio channel the callers emphasised freedom of speech and tolerance. The participants were evenly divided in favour of and opposed to the painting. White and black callers were on both sides of the argument.
It was noticeable for me that the views in favour of and opposed to the painting was not that of white against black.