Could Jacob Zuma’s Penis be the most painted presidential member of all time? Artist Ayanda Mabulu has created another painting that displays our President’s bits and pieces. It is on display at the AVA gallery in Cape Town, and the question on everyone’s lips? Will it get defaced?

The painting has JZ in traditional Zulu attire with his nether regions exposed for all to see; entitled Umshini Wam it is part of an exhibition called Our Fathers. What everybody is waiting to see is whether this creation is going to cause as much of a furor as Bret Murray’s The Spear. Paintings of President Zuma’s rope and tackle do not come cheap. Mabulu’s painting is priced at a hefty R75 000.

Mabulu was reported as saying:

He is not naked; I did not paint him with an uncircumcised penis. This is a metaphor that shows he is not a boy; he is a man, an elder, a father, a leader.

This is as fair a point as you will find, but after the rather ridiculous outrage over Murray’s painting it is debatable whether the point will hold water with the South African masses. He went on to describe the thesis behind the work:

In this painting I’m engaging my elder in the language of my mother tongue, the language that carries the culture of my people, the language he understands the most.

Through this painting, I respectfully, as one of his children, ask my father why he is starving us. Why he is negating his duties to his children, the citizens of South Africa.

One of Mabulu’s other paintings – Ngcono ihlwempu kunesibhanxo sesityebi (Better poor than a rich puppet) – was referenced often during The Spear escapade as it also depicted South African leaders in compromising positions; the question asked was why this painting did not create as much of a stir as did Murray’s.

[Source: Times Live]