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KwaZulu-Natal-based cartoonist and painter Sizwe Sikhakhane is growing frustrated as former president Jacob Zuma refuses to pay him R120 000 for the paintings he had taken from him and allegedly refuses to hand them back.
Sikhakhane accused Zuma of taking two of his paintings, which are profile works of the statesman between 2021 and 2022 after being introduced to him by the former head of state's elder brother, Joseph, and visiting his Nkandala home where he requested to keep them and pay for them.
He said:
Sikhakhane said he had met Zuma senior while he was part of a project that took place in Nkandla, where he saw Zuma's paintings the artist had drawn, and helped link up the two.
He said while Zuma had made an agreement for the payment of the paintings through Zuma's personal assistant, Noma Zuma, all attempts to get the payment had drawn blank, resulting in his request to take the paintings back from the former president.
The painter said his business had taken a knock as he had been disappointed by customers who did not pay for services after they had promised to pay for his work.
He pointed out that while Zuma had not requested the paintings to be done, he had requested them after they were presented to him, but refused to fulfil the promise to pay for them.
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“Maybe he should not have said I must give him the paintings if he knew he did not have money. I did not want to put pressure on him before because I did not have financial problems, but he continues to stall and I told him that I need the money. I sent him the invoice as he requested it,” he said.
City Press has seen text messages exchanged between the two, including in February when Noma indicated that Zuma was planning to pay for the paintings in instalments as he was not in a good financial position.
These naked Zuma paintings are getting tired and lack originality.Lama artist must find another angle now "yawn" pic.twitter.com/d1wcaYVGAa
— #Mzokoloko (@mzokoloko) October 12, 2015
These naked Zuma paintings are getting tired and lack originality.Lama artist must find another angle now "yawn" pic.twitter.com/d1wcaYVGAa
— #Mzokoloko (@mzokoloko) October 12, 2015
While Sikhakhane had proposed R20 000 instalments, he said his pleas for being paid had fallen on deaf ears as Noma mostly ignored her calls and messages.
“The problem now is that when I try to contact Noma, she no longer answers my calls or responds to my messages and I cannot just go to Nkandla to get the paintings without permission from the security and the police there. She initially said we must continue negotiating until we resolve the issue with the former president,” he said.
Speaking to City Press on Friday, Noma said Zuma had decided to keep the paintings as he had liked them but he was unhappy about their price.
Noma stated:
She said while Zuma wanted to keep the paintings, she was unimpressed with how he expressed his unhappiness over the stalled payment.
City Press has seen some of the conversations between the two in which Sikhakhane accused Noma of being ignorant of his financial plight and threatened to descend on Nkandla with a television repossession crew as he said he would not be allowed to enter Zuma’s home unaccompanied to fetch his paintings.
Noma indicated that there were also other individuals who were requesting payments from the former presidents for items they had produced for him, including clothing items, which Zuma did not necessarily know about.
