While President Jacob Zuma still stands strong, his previous champions no longer seem to have an appetite for his face on canvas.
That’s according to Durban wax sculptor and painter Lungelo Gumede – the man who has captured Zuma, and several other personalities, in wax and paint.
He has been asked by clients to take back the paintings they commissioned of the president, one request even coming from an ANC branch in KwaZulu-Natal.
Gumede – who wants to be South Africa’s Madame Tussaud – has no qualms about taking back his works, because “I still like the guy”.
The fine art graduate’s proudest Zuma portrait hangs in the presidential suite of Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.
“My clients have been calling me recently and asking me to come take the portraits back. They said they’re cross with this man, one said he took down the painting …
“Another asked me if I could paint Ramaphosa on top of Zuma. I just laughed.
“There’s even an ANC branch on the north coast that bought a painting from me for R100,000. They said to me, ‘Comrade you must come and take down your painting.'” Read more