On Sarah Britten's “Jacob Zuma, Zapiro (bless his satirical name) and Sarah Palin” article

Sarah Britten made a very astute observation on where the Zapiro (bless his satirical name) cartoon may be taking us all. Zuma may very well be re-written as a victim – for the nonce. Dream on girl – with this kind of writing ye may very well topple the mighty Traps.

However, the furore created by Zapiro (bless his satirical name) is rather like toppling a massive anthill: there will be some victims. The image of a massive blow to an anthill (Zapiro’s – bless his satirical name – cartoon) is apt. For a while all the little critters will be confused and dizzy and Zuma will look like a victim. But the undeniable success of the cartoon is that it has made us all wake up and look at what the hell is going on. We are all victims of the irresponsible manner in which Zuma & Co have abused the judiciary system and we have forgotten this or denied it or just do not care anymore. I left South Africa four years ago and at that time the delays in the Zuma trial were already getting long in the tooth.

It is not entirely accurate when Sarah Britten says the Zapiro (bless his satirical name) cartoons about Zuma are boring. It is the fact that nothing substantial is ever done in court about Zuma is what is tedious and boring. We had become indifferent and had lost interest, the sledgehammer prose of the mighty Traps on the selfsame Zuma issue notwithstanding. Look at the other extreme: what if the Zapiro (bless his satirical name) cartoon had appeared and no one noticed or just shrugged their shoulders and poured another cup of coffee? Now that would have been frightening. Our collective response to the Zapiro (bless his satirical name) cartoon kind of tells us we are actually still human; we have not become that desensitised, dehumanised – yet.