The paintings on a bridge near Halls has nothing to do with terrorism, but is all about beautifying the bridge, said the Brazilian-born artist, Whitey Joao.
He also claimed that he was hired by the City of Mbombela (CoM) to create these paintings on the bridge walls.
“I heard there are some people accusing me of instilling terrorism with my paintings at Halls Bridge, which is not true. Maybe it is because I had a drawing of Che Guevara’s face, so people assumed that it had something to do with terrorism.

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“My painting has nothing to do with terrorism, but is about embracing the talent we have in our municipality,” he said.
Joao said he plans to use his talent to beautify the city’s bridges and to inspire young artists to use their talents wisely.
“The officials who hired me, asked me to prioritise the entrances to the town. They are targeting the bridges because they realised that homeless people are sleeping there, and they end up getting the place dirty, and all sorts of criminal activity happens. But if they have a beautiful painting, people will not even notice that it’s not clean, because they will be focusing on the drawings,” he said.

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He is also teaching the young people at Mbombela Stadium about the paintings, and he is calling on members of the public to donate paint and brushes, to assist the youth he teaches.
The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said Joao did in fact not get permission from the municipality.
“He was stopped and asked who had given him permission. He indicated that he was permitted by some official within the municipality, which could not be confirmed,” he said.
Ngala also said there is no provision in the by-laws regarding the issue of painting on bridges or walls.