SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 9, 2022] It Only Comes in Orange, Mr Zuma
This is the second collection of editorial cartoons from South Africa’s Daily Maverick newspaper. Zapiro (Jonathan Shapiro) has been making editorial cartoons and caricatures since the early 1990s and has 25 books of cartoons published. Turns out I have access to most of them so I may need to d a deep dive–maybe I’ll understand some of the politics more.
I really don’t know very much about the South Africa, and I feel like news about the country is not covered very much here. I don’t understand all of the jokes in here, but I do feel like I have a vague grasp on the country now. However, it’s when Zapiro turns his pen abroad–especially against trump, that I can see how good of a satirist he is. I posted this picture when talking about the previous book, but this cartoon appears in this one:
When he publishes the cartoons in the newspaper, they speak for themselves. But in these collections, he adds a caption since most of the details are no longer fresh. For the above he wrote:
Hell-bent on overturning the election result, trump supporters storm the Capitol building in Washington. The riot leaves five people dead.
How is it that there is any question about this still in our country. Why is our justice system so slow?
Well, given the justice system in South Africa, our looks like a quick resolution.
The books opens with promises from President Ramaphosa as he tackles an economy shattered by corruption and the pandemic. There’s talk of how the people and the courts seem to be able to catch the small fry and maybe a big fish but never the giant whale. This applies to Markus Jooste who was responsible for the Steinhoff fraud that cost R106 billion. But also to trump, as the lower people get picked off and he stays free.
And arrest warrant for ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule gets a Monopoly Go to Jail card slammed down on an Ace of spades.
And, as the title suggests, former President Jacob Zuma is in serious hot water. As of November 2020, he was still fighting to stay out of jail. Commission: Impossible: Pinning Down Zuma. But Zondo would not back down from Zuma’s threats. When Zuma was found guilty he tried many things to reverse the decision like saying that “jailing during Covid is a death sentence” and how his supporters rioted and looted–more than 300 people died. This sounds like a prediction for when trump is eventually arrested. Of course, no one loots as well as the South African government who managed to divvy up the R150 million in COVID funds to friends and cronies.
Back in the U.S. he has a hilarious drawing of the white house with trump and melania sitting next to Karma and a corona virus icon. With the next page showing a doctor saying “this then are the details on trump’s condition. We trust this clears up any confusion caused by yesterday’s briefing. That’s it till tomorrow’s briefing when we are sure to contradict today’s.”
He also shows a country where there was real voter fraud: Uganda, where the president (since 1986) had his opponent beaten.
And then a rather moving picture of Biden and Harris carrying the US and fitting it back into the globe.
Zapiro is no fool when it comes to COVID. Showing a picture of a beach and surfers, he says jam-packed, no masks, there’ll be a second wave. And, back in the U.S. the only good thing about COVID-19 is that trump’s approval rating had plummeted. And an image of the Pfizer vaccine being 90% effective against the virus and Biden being 90% effective against the trump virus.
He also has a nice contrast between a little prick (the COVID-19 vaccine) and a Big Prick, Chief Justice Mogoeng proclaiming that the vaccine could be the work of the devil. He also skewers anti-vaxxers in a few cartoons. My favorite being the Hamlet inspired: “to be vaccinated or not to be” (and the skull saying “@#&* stupid question!!”
And of course perpetual criticism of the government’s lack of vaccine rollout plans: Promises; Excuses and Actual Vaccines. And an apparently enormous corruption scandal involving millions of rand going to an unheard of vaccine company called Digital Vibes (whose nominal owner was working at a gas station at the time).
I thought that I had heard about the fire that swept through Johannesburg, but I didn’t realize that it swept through the University of Cape Town campus. There’s also a welcome to Joburg sign, that’s been modified to say “a world ass African city!” with an extra notice: no power, no water, no functioning state hospitals, no garage collection, no pipe fixing, no jobs, no pothole repairs, no fire engines.”
There’s always time for non-political cartoons as well, like when Diego “Hand of God” Maradona died. Or when Shaleen Surtie-Richards, the much lauded and beloved actress died and it was discovered that she was practically broke.
He also looks outside of South Africa and the U.S. to other places. Like Russia, where Putin’s most prominent critic was arrested again (after surviving nerve agent poisoning). He also goes after Israel for ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Back in the US, he goes after the U.S. police force when the justice system finally nabbed Derek Chauvin. He doesn’t have anything against Biden (yet), but he does congratulate the U.S. for finally getting out of Afghanistan. And then marking the anniversary of 9/11 he shows the plane hitting the towers and noting 3,000 deaths and then 20 years of revenge wars with a Bush-faced plane flying into 500,000 deaths in Afghanistan (to oust the Taliban), Iraq (false pretenses) and Pakistan (to kill Bin Laden).
The book ends with an indictment of Britain. Showing John Cleese’s Ministry of Silly Walks pose, he has one of his feet dipped in red to show their COVID red list–damaging South Africa’s tourism industry, while allowing other countries to remain off their list.
Leave a Reply