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AfriForum said in response to the fiasco surrounding the controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma that South Africans must now allow the courts to help find a healthy balance between fundamental rights like human dignity and freedom of expression.

According to Kallie Kriel, AfriForum CEO, his organisation regards the Zuma painting as offensive and in poor taste. ‘It is, however, unfortunate that this matter is playing out within the context of the ANC’s selective morality regarding human dignity. The ANC is currently preparing for a case in the Appeals Court to fight for the right to commit hate speech and to violate Afrikaners’ human dignity by singing “shoot the Boer ... they are rapists”, but takes offence when one of their leader’s dignity is violated,’ Kriel said.

Kriel pointed out that the artist Brett Murray’s other works effectively depicted the moral decay and corruption in the ANC, but that it was unfortunate that this message was undermined by a humiliating painting.