ANC: Don't advertise with City Press

2012-05-25 12:04

Cape Town - The ANC has taken their fight with the City Press further by asking South Africans not to advertise in the newspaper.

This comes after the newspaper published the controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma with his penis hanging out.

The ANC has taken City Press and the Goodman Gallery, which is hosting the exhibition of which the painting was a part, to court to get them to remove the art.

Until they comply, "we will continue to call on all South Africans including all formations of civil society and democrats at large who share our sentiment on this issue to boycott the newspaper, cancel their subscriptions as we have done already and not to advertise in the City Press", the ANC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the party said that it felt the SA National Editors’ Forum was being “inconsistent and opportunistic” after the body described the ANC 's call to boycott City Press as “abuse of power and intimidation”.

“In our past engagements with the organisation and other media formations, the issue of any party or formation withholding their buying power was accepted as an option where there is disagreement.

“As the ANC we are entitled to vote on this issue with the withdrawal of our buying power.”

The party said it viewed the call for a boycott of the newspaper as a “sensible and responsible option to continue engaging the newspaper”.

It said its call to boycott was a legal and legitimate way of registering its outrage at the “insult” directed at Zuma.

“We will do everything within the bounds of law to persuade the newspaper to accept the reality that we will not rest until this public display of arrogance is removed and a public apology [is] made.”

The painting, titled The Spear, has been removed from display at the gallery after two men defaced it on Tuesday.

The South Gauteng High Court on Thursday postponed the court case indefinitely.

- News24