Pretoria - A full bench of the South Gauteng High Court is already in session to hear an African National Congress (ANC) application regarding the portrait depicting President Jacob Zuma in an offensive manner.
Scores of ANC supporters have gathered outside the High Court to give support to the President.
Lawyers for both the President and the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg have already begun presenting their arguments.
ANC Advocate Gcina Malindi has submitted that they would argue the portrait defames the President and is an infringement of Section 10 of the Constitution, which is the right to dignity.
"That right cannot be diminished in any way. We will put this to the court looking at the Constitution," Advocate Malindi told the judges.
The painting, titled The Spear, was part of Cape Town artist Brett Murray's exhibition, Hail to the Thief II, at the gallery. The ANC wants the gallery to remove the painting. It also wants the City Press newspaper to remove a photo of the painting from its website.
