09 September 2008

Zapiro - At last!!! Someone speaks out !!!


The drawing shows ANC leader Jacob Zuma unbuckling his belt in front of a woman who is being held down by leaders of the ANC, the South African Communist Party, the ANC Youth League and Cosatu.The woman in the cartoon represents the justice system, so identified by a banner across her body -- implying that Zuma, together with the ANC and its alliance partners, is "raping" the judicial system.Zuma is currently facing corruption charges, though he has challenged the decision to charge him. Some of his supporters in the tripartite alliance insist the charges are part of a political plot to smear Zuma's name.

According to Zapiro, his cartoon depicts the ANC, Cosatu, the ANCYL and the SACP putting their allegiance to Zuma above the criminal justice system. He said: "There are layers in this cartoon. The primary point is that Zuma is violating the justice system and the spirit of the Constitution. That violation is depicted as a rape." The violation of institutions is often described as "the rape of institutions", he said, adding: "It has become part of the language and you can even find it in the Oxford dictionary."Secondly, he said, it is part of the Greek tradition to represent aspects of society through human figures. "It has become general knowledge that justice is represented by a woman with scales of justice and a blindfold. It's a figure that we understand to be justice. The ANC, the ANCYL, SACP, Cosatu -- they know that, as every reader knows that. They do understand, but they pretend not to know that."Zapiro said that in this cartoon, Zuma should be seen in a metaphorical context. "He is raping the justice system and they are complicit in that." He continued: "It's unfortunate for Zuma that he comes with his history. But that's a secondary thing."

Well done Zapiro – you have our support and we get your satiric portrayal of something that we are all seeing happening right in front of our eyes. It is because everybody keeps quiet that our country is in the state it is at the moment.

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