By Patrick Burnett

A painting by world famous South African master Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef was removed from the offices of Free State’s Dihlabeng municipality in July and the frame burnt for firewood, according to the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The painting, which has an estimated value of between R500,000 and R700,000, was apparently removed by a cleaner, but was returned days later when an outcry was raised over the disappearance.

Pierneef, born in 1886, is considered to be one of the top South African masters for his distinctive landscape paintings, many of which were of the South African highveld.

Dr. Clem Harrington, chairperson of the DA caucus in the Dihlabeng municipality, said the Pierneef, apparently bought by the then Bethlehem municipality prior to 1994, had disappeared on the last Wednesday in July, but then been returned by the Friday, with the frame damaged.

Although municipal officials had refused to show him the painting – a typical landscape painting with a Kokerboom tree – he said he had been told that the frame was “off” and had been burnt for firewood. He said no action had been taken against the cleaner, according to information provided to him by municipal manager Sandile Msibi.

“I want to see the painting and want to see it [the disappearance] investigated and [the painting] re-framed,” he said.

He called for the painting to be sold, pointing out that while the municipality had a painting worth hundreds of thousands of Rands in its possession, there were people living in shacks without water.

Attempts to get comment from the municipality were unsuccessful, with Msibi refusing to comment on the matter when contacted on his cellphone. Msibi asked for an email to be sent to him, but then responded with the following: “We do not manage the affairs of the municipality through the media. Internal processes and procedures are available to deal with challenges of the municipality.”

Roy Jankielsohn, leader of the DA in the Free State, said: “We are concerned that we have not had access to the painting to verify it is the original.”