In The Spear (painting), how is the Media boycott of the ANC response elucidated?
After City Press repeatedly refused to remove an image of the painting from their website, the ANC called upon its members and sympathisers to boycott placing advertising in, and buying of, the weekly paper.  A statement released by the ANC said: "Their refusal to remove this portrait from their website and their controlled social media is a clear indication that this newspaper does not belong to our shared democratic dispensation and values."  Responding to the boycott, City Press editor-in-chief Ferial Haffajee described Nzimande's call for a boycott of the paper as "deeply disturbing".The ANC was criticised by the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), which said "While we recognise the right of the ANC to advise members on how to exercise their consumer decisions, the call for a boycott of a newspaper is tantamount to intimidation and abuse of power ... This kind of behaviour is unbecoming of a party that functions in an open democratic stage and especially one which leads the national government." The boycott of City Press was further condemned by the International Press Institute (IPI), and by 28 May, ten days after the newspaper printed the painting for the first time, opinions in the ANC had divided with several senior members opposing the boycott.
International Press Institute Ferial Haffajee South African