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It comes as no surprise to learn that the browbeaten Film and Publications Board will defend its decision to rate The Spear 16N at the Appeal Board.

We applaud the Goodman Gallery’s appeal, announced earlier this month. Its stance is in stark contrast to that of the embarrassingly broad spectrum of SA commentators who allowed themselves to be manipulated into submission and political correctness by the ANC.

The Board claims that the complaints upon which it acted did not come from politicians or high ranking personalities. We await a reply to a Parliamentary question on the identity of the person or persons who complained.

The Board seems to argue that it has to act on receipt of a complaint, but it does not: the Film and Publications Act determines the grounds on which it may impose restrictions. It cannot censor bona fide art, and it was scraping the very bottom of the barrel of available gestures in pretending to protect children.