Misconstrued Bill of Rights

By Nicole Hodnett

Art for Humanity researches projects that advocate various human rights issues in South Africa. Artists and poets from all over the world use their expression through artwork and poetry on issues affecting the world today.

‘Lenin Lived, Lenin is Alive, Lenin Will Live by Victoria Ivanov’

As a South African country, freedom of expression is our entitlement. If under certain circumstances a human right can be overturned by the government if that right infringes on another person or group of people.

In recent events the minister of arts and culture stormed out of an artistic conference in Johannesburg as she termed it pornographic. The conference was an exhibition on black lesbian couples.

It happened recently where a provocative painting of our South African president Jacob Zuma was on display that pierced the wrong side of the ANC. Reactions sparked and two men wielding cans of red and black paint walked into Johannesburg’s Goodman gallery and daubed an x over the president’s private parts before smearing it with paint over his face.

According to Sunday times columnist and Anc acolyte Pinky Khoabane, suggested on twitter that ‘the spear ‘constitutes plagiarism. The inspiration to Brett Murrays painting comes from another piece of artwork called ‘Lenin Lived, Lenin is Alive, Lenin Will Live by Victoria Ivanov’.

According to artbussiness.com creating paintings from photographs may or may not violate copyright laws. If you are completing an article that does not violate copyright laws and that’s by taking general information of that certain topic and pictures included.

Drama erupted after Zuma painting was defaced

According to patent express, if a court finds somebody has infringed upon your patent, the infringer may be required to pay a reasonable royalty for their use of your invention. In addition the infringer may also have to pay damages.

We all have the right to freedom of the press and other media. Are the rights to express ourselves as a democratic country being forgotten, tainted or simply disregarded? Everyone is equal before the law and has a right to equal protection.

Director of Art for Humanity, Jan Jordaan felt that the government of South Africa  refuses to popularise ‘The bill of rights’ enough and therefore gives people no right to misconstrue it.

‘In a recent Anc conference in Midland hardly any explicit support was shown in reference to human rights’, he said.