Advert Censors in South Africa

The Cape Town Fish Market has apologised for a television advert the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) claimed offended black people and must be withdrawn.

The commercial features a white man playing different characters to demonstrate how truth can be bent in order to mislead. The character uses his fingers to show inverted commas to indicate that sometimes fresh fish is not really fresh. In one scene his face is blackened and he speaks in a thick African accent.

The ASA, after considering complaints lodged by two people, banned the advert.

In its ruling, the ASA said the complainants found the commercial to be offensive as it portrayed a stereotype that black politicians were liars.

This technique is known as 'blackface', and is an inherently racist form of acting. The black character is depicted with derogatory intention, speaks with a thick accent and recalls a stereotypical black dictator. To achieve the desired result of showing a corrupt official, there was no need for the man to be made out to be black.

The Johannesburg Art Fair has, perhaps understandably, refused to exhibit a satirical painting by Ayanda Mabulu.

The work titled Yakhal'inkomo (Black Man's Cry), is about the deadly shooting at Lonmin's Marikana mine in the North West. On 16 August 2012, 34 striking miners were gunned down during a confrontation with police.

The artwork depicts a miner depicted with bull's horns being attacked by President Jacob Zuma's dog - the police. The president is seen stepping on a dying miner's head.

Mabulu told Eyewitness News:

The painting speaks about the slaughter of black people, black miners, poor people and the marginalised, by those in power, including our president and those who control the economy.

I'm going to continue talking about these stories regardless of who says what.

Update: Dogs called off

1st October 2013. See article from mg.co.za

A painting commenting on President Jacob Zuma's perceived role in the Marikana shootings has been put back on display at the FNB Joburg Art Fair, the Sunday Independent reported.

The organisers had removed Ayanda Mabulu's Yakhali'inkomo (Black Man's Cry) from the exhibition, apparently to avoid jeopardising the government's financial support for the event.

The painting was put back up after photographer David Goldblatt, this year's featured artist at the fair, took down his work in protest.

I had to make a stand against what is a threat to the freedom of speech, Goldblatt told reporters: Self-censorship is a slippery slope that we know only too well.