On the corner of Marlboro Drive and Southway Str, JHB there is a red block on a wall. Hours earlier, that red space carried a single word: “Genocide.” It was the start of a mural that activists planned to finish before the G20 summit tomorrow — a piece they called “Genocide 20”, pointing straight towards Sandton, where the world’s most powerful economies are gathering. But before long, Johannesburg Metro Police told them to stop.
“We painted ‘genocide’ and ‘20’, because we all know the top 20 economies of the world are complicit in the genocide that’s happening in Gaza, in Sudan, in Congo,” explains South African author and activist Zukiswa Wanner, speaking on Cii Radio.
The design was simple and devastating: the words “Genocide 20 – This Way”, followed by three women in flags — Sudan, Palestine and Congo — embracing each other. It was painted on a private residential wall, with the explicit permission of the homeowner.
It was to show how genocide has become normalised and the target of the message was clear: the G20 nations that keep trading, arming, and legitimising the states doing the killing.
“Why Would Anyone Find the Word ‘Genocide’ Offensive?”
At about 09:30 on Thursday morning, two JMPD officers arrived. One, who described himself as a “director”, told the artists to remove the word “Genocide” immediately.
“He said that we needed to take it off… he said he found it offensive, and that somebody might find it offensive,” Zukiswa recalls.
Her reply was as sharp as the mural itself:
“I said, why would anybody find the word ‘genocide’ offensive — unless, of course, they are guilty of committing a genocide?”
The officer then shifted ground, pulling out a by-law about outdoor advertising and insisting the mural was “illegal” because it was “advertising without permission from the city.”
“We’re not selling any product or any service. This is a mural. We’re calling attention to something that’s happening,” Zukiswa told him.
He compared it to the civic organisation Solidarity’s billboard that claimed South Africa is the most racially regulated country in the world and how that “offended people’, and even said on video about the Palestine Mural that, “I am offended and the city is offended.”
He admitted he hadn’t responded to any public complaint; he was, in his own words, just driving past to check the route for G20 motorcades when he saw the word on the wall and turned back.
“He said he was trying to ensure that the image of the city is not negative, Zukiswa says. “He even told us, ‘You can come and paint after the G20.’”
And that’s where the whole thing unravels.
If this is truly about a City by-law, why is it suddenly legal “next week”?
“Since when do we have laws that apply for only one weekend in this country?” Liaaqat Tobias the host asked.
The Letter: When Protest Art Becomes ‘Advertising’
Later, a formal contravention notice arrived from the City of Johannesburg. It states that the sign on the wall was painted “with a full explicit purpose of advertising without prior approval of the council” and claims a breach of section 3(1) of the City’s 2009 Outdoor Advertising By-laws.
That section says no person may erect or use “any advertising sign” without prior written approval of the council.
On paper, the city may argue that any sign visible from the street — including political or artistic murals — needs formal approval. One lawyer who saw the notice even said, “then they might have a point.”
But even if they do have a narrow technical point, three bigger issues refuse to go away:
- This is not a Coke billboard.
The by-law was written to control commercial advertising, billboards and estate agent boards — not to erase political speech that makes powerful people uncomfortable. - The Constitution protects protest art.
Section 16 of the South African Constitution guarantees “freedom of expression”, including “freedom of artistic creativity” and the right to “impart information or ideas.” Courts have already treated other cases of protest art as protected expression. - The timing gives away the game.
The officer’s own words — “come back next week” — show this is not about a permanent threat to public order. It’s about managing optics for visiting leaders while Gaza burns.
As Zukiswa put it:“You can paint over ‘genocide’, but it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”
South Africa Says ‘Genocide’ in The Hague — But Not on a Wall
The irony is painful.
South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, charging it with violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza. The ICJ has found South Africa’s case plausible and has ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow aid in — orders that are legally binding, even if they are hard to enforce.
At the same time, UN agencies and experts have documented mass killing, displacement and deliberate starvation in Gaza. Israel’s actions have been described as creating “genocidal conditions” and using starvation as “a form of genocidal violence.”
So when a city official in Johannesburg says he is “offended” by seeing the word “Genocide” on a wall — and orders it erased ahead of a summit — it raises a brutal question:
How can a country brave enough to call out genocide in The Hague be too scared to let one painted word face a convoy of G20 cars?
“At the end of the day, we are the country that has given the moral high ground to the world by saying we’re taking Israel to the ICJ,” Zukiswa says.
“So when we can’t even be allowed to say the word ‘genocide’, which is what we charged Israel with, it becomes very problematic as a country.”
This Is About Gaza — But Also About Us
Liaaqat Tobias, hosting the CII Radio segment, made it plain: this is not just about Palestine, Congo or Sudan. It is also about South African democracy.
Since when do police drive around pro-actively hunting murals, without any complaint, then use by-laws as weapons based on their “personal offence”? Since when do we allow laws to be enforced for one weekend only, to protect a city’s image for foreign dignitaries?
“If we don’t put a stop to it right at the beginning, our rights and our freedoms will continue shrinking and shrinking and shrinking,” Zukiswa warns.
That is why she believes a complaint against the officer for abuse of power and intimidation is “absolutely necessary”.
From Walls to Streets: What Happens Next
The mural project has been paused for now. But activists are already thinking beyond one wall.
Zukiswa calls on people to join The People’s Protest:
“On Sunday… everybody is meeting at Diepkloof Square at 10am… we’ll be marching to Nasrec… whether it’s their support for a genocide, whether it’s destroying homes, unemployment, homelessness — everything that we know is happening because of neoliberalism.”
And the host Liaaqat suggests a city-wide response:
If they don’t want “Genocide 20” on one wall, let it appear on thousands of cars.
Paint the word “GENOCIDE” on banners.
Hang Palestinian, Sudanese and Congolese flags from windows.
Turn Marlboro Drive — and every route to Sandton — into a moving mural they can’t paint over.
Zukiswa’s final call is simple:
“Let’s stay away from big business… let’s buy from small traders… continue boycotting. Boycott Coke, boycott KFC, boycott Dis-Chem, because these guys are responsible for a genocide. Buy with a conscience.”
A red block on a wall in Marlboro is all that’s left of one attempt to name a crime.
But the question it has raised refuses to disappear:
If the truth is legal next week, why is it forbidden when the G20 is watching?
Have you driven past the wall where the mural was supposed to stand?
Take a pic and send it to us.
It seems like other artists have responded with protest art on the wall, next to the red block 😅
