Zuma's lawyer sobs at portrait hearing
Source: Agencies |
May 25, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A LAWYER for South Africa's president broke down in tears yesterday as he tried to convince three judges that the display of a portrait that depicts the president's genitals is unlawful.
The three South Gauteng High Court judges called a recess after the emotional display. After a break of over two hours, judges and lawyers agreed to resume at a date to be decided later.
President Jacob Zuma is asking the High Court to issue an order that display of the now-defaced painting violates his constitutional right to dignity. The gallery and the artist counter that freedom of expression, also protected by the constitution, is at stake.
Two men had walked into the Goodman Gallery on Tuesday and defaced the portrait with paint. The gallery then removed the painting and closed indefinitely. Yesterday's hearing was broadcast live. Leaders of the ruling African National Congress were present, as were several of the 70-year-old Zuma's children.
As arguments began, the judges closely questioned Zuma's lawyer Gcina Malindi on points of law, race, art and the limits of their ability to control publication on the Internet.
Malindi argued that the court should take into account not just the opinions of a "super class" of art experts, but how the painting was likely to be seen by the country's black majority, denied education under apartheid. Malindi, who is black, said that many blacks still lived in poverty after the end of apartheid in 1994. He then sobbed. His colleagues rushed to put their arms around his shoulders.
The three South Gauteng High Court judges called a recess after the emotional display. After a break of over two hours, judges and lawyers agreed to resume at a date to be decided later.
President Jacob Zuma is asking the High Court to issue an order that display of the now-defaced painting violates his constitutional right to dignity. The gallery and the artist counter that freedom of expression, also protected by the constitution, is at stake.
Two men had walked into the Goodman Gallery on Tuesday and defaced the portrait with paint. The gallery then removed the painting and closed indefinitely. Yesterday's hearing was broadcast live. Leaders of the ruling African National Congress were present, as were several of the 70-year-old Zuma's children.
As arguments began, the judges closely questioned Zuma's lawyer Gcina Malindi on points of law, race, art and the limits of their ability to control publication on the Internet.
Malindi argued that the court should take into account not just the opinions of a "super class" of art experts, but how the painting was likely to be seen by the country's black majority, denied education under apartheid. Malindi, who is black, said that many blacks still lived in poverty after the end of apartheid in 1994. He then sobbed. His colleagues rushed to put their arms around his shoulders.
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