Violent Modernity: Gender, Race and Bodies in Contemporary South African Politics

Abstract

In May 2012, an artwork on President Zuma caused a public storm about the relationship between freedom of expression, dignity and the rights of the artist. In subsequent political debates on Brett Murray's Spear, art and politics met in a heightened clash that embodied all the tensions of a country moving imperfectly towards an imagined state of democracy. In that clash, what was said mattered no less than who said it, and the significance of the debate related to the heart of how democracy ought to be understood. This article argues that the question of where gender equality might feature in South African democracy was less widely debated. More specifically, in the angst that characterized responses to the painting and responses to the responses, considerable anxiety was expressed about two aspects of democracy. The first related to whether or not the liberal political norms of the South African constitution were in danger of being eroded by a socially conservative populist movement. The second related to the sense of citizenship: who belongs in South Africa, who has the right to criticize and who is an authentic citizen. There was little attention to a discussion of what is entailed in the making of the postcolonial subject and especially in the way in which gender complicates modern democracy. The article argues for considering race and gender as inextricable. It suggests that the limits of democracy are most clearly visible when bodies become present in the public sphere.

Notes

1. The Shembe church is one of the largest and oldest independent churches in South Africa. Both Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma were made honorary members of the church. Liz Gunner shows that the Shembe Church is at the centre of ‘presenting a religious presence which is distinctively African, [making] it a force to be reckoned with in social, political and religious terms’ (Gunner 2002, 1).

2. A wide range of responses to the painting is available in a useful format on Brett Murray's website http://www.brettmurray.co.za/the-spear-opinions

3. The ANC's use of a voluntary quota on electoral lists has been the driving force in changing the gender composition of the South Africa parliament. In 1999, women occupied a total of 30% of positions in the national parliament going up to 43% in 2009 (http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/souquotas.htm).

4. The Film and Publication Board responded to a complaint that the painting was pornographic and representations of the painting should therefore not be published. The complaint was specifically made in relation to the online versions on the City Press website. On 22 May 2012, a team from the Film and Publication Board visited the Goodman gallery to inspect the painting. On 1 June 2012 it ruled that while there were no grounds to place the painting in category X18 (publications that fall within the category of legal pornography), it should be placed in the category 16N. This means that measures should be put in place to ensure that children under the age of 16 should not be exposed to the image. Their explicit concern was for the ‘safety’ of children. The Goodman Gallery appealed the decision, and in October 2012 the Film and Publication Board Appeal Tribunal upheld the appeal. The Tribunal's reasoning included that the original decision had not given due weight to the status of the painting as a work of art (Film and Publication Board 2012).

5. This is a reference to the 53rd National Conference of the ANC, which took place in the municipality of Mangaung (incorporating the city of Bloemfontien) in December 2012. This conference was also the culmination of the ANC's centenary celebrations.

6. Not all ANC members agree with this stance, of course. There is robust critique of the current leadership's social conservatism within the ANC itself, and significant feminist positions within the ANC that are made inside the organization as well as in public.

7. Not surprisingly, most representations of Mandela in art and sculpture portray him as heroic icon of humanity. To illustrate this reading of Mandela, consider the sculpture by Marco Cianfanelli in Howick, at the Capture Site. That work, monumental in scale, depicts the bust of Mandela as a deconstructed image, dissolving and reconstructing depending on perspective.

8. In 1994 there were 1153 cases per 100,000 people; in 2003/2004 there were 1137 cases per 100,000 people. Smith also reported that at the time 50% of all cases before South African courts were for rape, except in the cities of Durban and Mdantsane where it was 60% (Smith 2004). However, rape statistics—whether collected by police or by independent researchers, are notoriously subject to methodological problems in South Africa. Lisa Vetten points out that police statistics are based only on reported incidents, and that the real extent of sexual violence is likely to be higher (Vetten 2007). The statistics for sexual offenses released by the South African Police Service was 64,514 for 2012, indicating a serious under-reporting.