On Tuesday, artist Brett Murray’s controversial painting of Jacob Zuma, which shows the South African President with his genitals hanging out of his pants, was allegedly defaced by three men.

The three men, two of whom stand accused of smearing red and black paint over the painting, which was on show as part of the artist’s “Hail to the Thief II” exhibition, are being held by the police at the Rosebank Police station.

In a statement, Police spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo confirmed that two men had been taken into custody on suspicion of defacing the portrait.

“The two men, 58 and 25 years of age, allegedly made crosses with red paint and smeared black paint respectively on the portrait.”

The third man was arrested for allegedly trying to spray paint ’respect’ on the wall of the Goodman Gallery. Police intervened before he could finish.

The incident occurred shortly after the  High Court in Johannesburg postponed the hearing of an application by the ANC to have the painting, which is entitled ‘The Spear’, removed from the public eye.

The application had just been postponed when the first reports of the painting’s destruction began to do the rounds. Back at the gallery, the police were discussing whether or not to claim the ruined painting as evidence.

Iman Rappetti, eNews channel anchor, was on hand at the gallery when an unidentified man produced a pot of red paint and marked the painting with a large red X.

“It was surreal,” said Rappetti, according to the Sowetan. She described the tweed-jacket wearing  Caucasian male as appearing to be completely “ordinary”. The lanky art critic was allowed to retouch the painting at his leisure, as patrons stood by and security guards failed to materialise.

“Are you meant to be doing this?” asked Rapetti of the elderly man.

Meanwhile, a young black man was standing by, waiting to add his contribution to the arts.

The second man started “going to town on the picture” with a pot of black paint, said Rapetti.

Finally, a security guard appeared on the scene and, while the older white man had his hand held by patrons at the gallery, proceeded to try and restrain the younger black suspect.

After failing to secure the man’s hands with a plastic zip tie, the security guard attempted a head butt before picking the man up and smashing him back to the ground. Beyond holding his hand, it appears in the video as if no attempt was made to forcefully restrain the white suspect.

The gallery was closed shortly after the incident, with three private and armed security guards wearing bulletproof vests stationed inside the gallery gates.

“It looked staged, like it was okay to do,” said student Naledi Morron, who was in the gallery on a field trip when the incident occurred, according to the Sowetan.

Her teacher Louise Shaw said: “It was so slow motion.”

Meanwhile, the Film and Publication Board will hear submissions from various parties on Tuesday night as it considers whether the painting should be censured following the many complaints against it.

Speaking on behalf of the board, Prince Mlimandlela Ndamase said it would go ahead in spite of what happened on Tuesday,   as images of the original picture are still in circulation on the internet.

Watch exclusive e-news footage of the incident below: