Issue 01, November 2009 - January 2010

Editorial  |   The lotus position  |   The canary in the coalmine  |   Zapped  |   The dark side of the sun  |   Who killed Deyda Hydara?  |   No quick fix  |   Caseload  |   Roque Solid

Zapped
S African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro

MDQ
The showerhead sprouting from Zuma alludes to his rape trial, in which he testified that he took a shower to protect himself from AIDS after having sex with an HIV-positive woman. This was a regular feature of Zapiro's cartoons until Zuma became president.  |   Image: © Zapiro

This cartoon, like the one on the front page, is the work of Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro.

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Shapiro made his name drawing satirical cartoons for underground pamphlets, stickers and posters for black liberation groups. Now, 15 years after the end of apartheid, many of those who fought the system are themselves in government. But they have not been spared his vitriolic pen.

Five months before taking office as president, Jacob Zuma filed a suit against Shapiro claiming some US$700,000 in damages for a drawing showing him unbuckling his pants in preparation for raping Lady Justice; the cartoon related to charges of corruption against Zuma which were dropped and referred to the earlier rape trial in which he was acquitted.

With the case still hanging over him, Shapiro says he has always avoided accommodating to "shifts in political paranoia". He explains simply: "I have tried to be consistent."

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MDQ

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For thousands of tourists each year, the Gambia is a sunlit paradise of beaches, warm sea and wildlife. They rarely glimpse its dark side...

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"It is a truism that, outside a handful of countries blessed with robust press freedom, journalists around the world face huge risks."