Hail to the Thief

Brett Murray's controversial painting The Spear (2010) depicted South African President Jacob Zuma in a Leninist pose with his genitals exposed. This was part of his exhibition Hail to the Thief II which was intended as a satirical critique of political power, corruption, and the perceived moral decay within the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Protests and marches on the gallery were orchestrated by the state. The painting sparked national outrage and ignited fierce debate about the limits of artistic expression, respect for cultural values, and freedom of speech.

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The gallery owner and staff and both the artist and his assistant all received death threats. The artist had to close his studio and move to a safe house due to these very real threats. The gallery and the artist were indicted to remove the painting from the show by both the state and by the president. They refused.

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The painting was eventually defaced at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. This appeared stage managed. The attempt to forcibly remove the painting from the gallery through the courts  failed miserably....

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"It was with equal measures of disappointment and anger that I have expressed my contempt for some in the new regime who are undermining the victories that have been achieved through their corruption and guile and who are effectively desecrating the graves of our struggle heroes. Their persistent venality exposes a callous disregard for the continued poverty of many South Africans.

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Political correctness and self-censorship are not cornerstones of effective political satire. If they were it would not be called satire, rather “ Ironic Praise Singing”. Parody is part of the satirist’s arsenal and it is through this that I hope to expose the new pigs at the trough. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on where you stand, nothing is sacred.

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That some temporary custodians of our constitutional democracy saw fit to jackboot through a gallery space and call for the burning of an exhibition and suppress a newspaper editor’s independence and by proxy attempt to censure the ideas of artists, playwrights, poets, film makers, social commentators, stand up comics and the like-and coming so soon after the apartheid regime’s endeavours to do the same-was eye opening, reckless and ultimately chilling.

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The silence of those within the echelons of power when there were public incitements made for the killing of some of us, and when private death threats were made public, renders them all complicit in the attempts to subvert the constitutionally enshrined freedom of expression and in the brutal suppression of dissent."

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^BM