That Damned Spear!

I'm no artist and I never took Art Appreciation or History of Art or any of those subjects at varsity. However, my mother was an artist and I therefore grew up with the smell of oil paint around me, although I cannot even draw a stick man.

When I first saw the "painting," I was shocked and horrified. It is revolting, awful and not something I want to look at as a "work of art." My first instinct was to view it as a work reflecting utter disdain of the subject - the president of my beloved country. It constituted a smear on our nation - as if the artist were trying to show South Africa the third finger, as if we are the laughing stock of the world. In a strange way I felt as if the artist was actually mocking me - a subject and citizen of this country. It hurt me.

The more I tried to get my brain around it, the more I tried to rationalize the clear meaning the work seemed to convey, the more I felt that the painting was an inappropriate manner of expressing its message.

Then I realized that the picture actually expressed what I have been trying to rationalize away in my mind: the fact that I, and many other older ANC supporters, I imagine, are indeed in shock about the manner in which a once ethically and morally sound organization has deteriorated into the corrupt circus we see today.

The work jolted me into questioning whether it really did not have a point - the point that the ANC made a grave mistake in making a man like Zuma our president. As shocking and embarrassing as the picture is, so shocking and embarrassing have the unbelievable inaction and actions of Zuma been.

Were it not for the explosive confrontation of the picture, I would not have had to confront, head-on, the unpleasant reality of the current ANC mentality and the course it seems to be plotting for South Africa's future (Zuma for a second term). How far has it strayed from the principles and ethical standards the stalwarts of the past valued, fought and died for ...

So - I hate the picture. It remains disgusting, nauseating and forever, it seems, etched in my brain.

However, it made me confront deep concerns lurking in the back of my mind which I simply used to gloss over or rationalize away because of the loyalty all ANC supporters - especially the older ones among us - carry in their hearts for the organization.

I am indeed very confused and miserable at this point.

As a nation we need something to lift us out of these doldrums ... now.

More than ever before we need to LEAD SA now and not try to score any further points out of this most  unfortunate blotch on our developing democracy.

Restraint must be the key word.