Zapiro's Blog, page 5

150505tt

The Question of Assisted Suicide in front of Concourt

Robert Stransham-Ford, 65, suffering from terminal prostate cancer appeared in court where he brought an urgent application, opposed by Doctors for Life, to be able to legally end his life. He actually died before the judge passed sentence allowing him to do so. In the appeal, Judge Hans Fabricius was of the view that the Constitutional Court and Parliament should reconsider the issue of legalising assisted suicide. It is now up to the Constitutional Court to decide.

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2655433...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150503st

Right2Know Report: SA government spying on its citizens

The Right2Know Campaign has launched its Big Brother Exposed report, which details how activists and community leaders have been “monitored and harassed” by South Africa’s intelligence agencies. “This report draws on interviews with 16 people who have encountered some form of harassment from one of South Africa's intelligence structures or people who are suspected of being intelligence agents. The report also draws on details of some of the leaked 'Spy Cables' which have not been covered by the media,” The Right2Know said in a statement. This is a report that documents stories of activists and community leaders who have been monitored and harassed by South Africa's intelligence agencies or people claiming to represent them.

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2653656...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150430tt

Down with Rhodes, Up with Hitler!

While student activists at UCT have been successful in their protest of removing the Rhodes statue, Wits University SRC president Mcebo Dlamini places a post on his facebook page about admiring Adolf Hitler. Dlamini has explained that while he's not naive to the atrocities Hitler committed, he believes the dictator was a great leader who was able to rally people behind him. In a subsequent interview, Dlamini said that every white person had an element of Hitler in them. Since his Facebook posts were made public, Dlamini has been unapologetic about his comments, despite an outcry from the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) who are calling for him to be removed as SRC president. Vice Chancellor at Wits, Professor Adam Habib has launched a probe to check whether disciplinary action can be instituted against Dlamini.

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2651438...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150430mg

Fight For D.A. Leadership Begins

Outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) chairperson Wilmot James has challenged his opponent in the party’s leadership race Mmusi Maimane to a public debate. James and Maimane who is the DA’s Parliamentary leader will be going up against Adrian Naidoo and Morgan Oliphant for the party’s top position after Helen Zille announced she will not run for re-election at the DA’s federal congress. James said "“I challenged Mmusi Maimane to an open debate on issues affecting the party and the country and he has accepted it, I believe arrangements have been made for it to be broadcast". Maimane responded "I really am open, we believe we’ve got ideas for the future of South Africa. We believe that we certainly know where the DA must go and we believe the relevance of the DA can only really be something that we can champion going forward."  James, considered the underdog said that  he would seek to win more black supporters for the official opposition by showing an understanding of how apartheid shaped their history and circumstances.  Maimane pointed out that when he ran for premier of Gauteng in last year’s national elections, the DA sliced some 10 percent off the ANC’s previous polling score in the province, down to 53 percent. James is one of South Africa’s most internationally prominent sociologists and, after just a couple of years as a DA member of parliament, became the party’s new federal chairman in 2010, replacing the retiring Joe Seremane. Although something of a neophyte in electoral politics, James’ political pedigree actually reaches back through the Black Consciousness-inspired South African Students Organisation and the likes of Steve Biko when James was a student at the University of the Western Cape, and even earlier to the Trotskyite-flavoured the Non-European Unity Movement. Marianne THamm in the Daily Maverick reports The tweets conjure images of the measured and middle-aged academic standing in the centre of a dusty school playground, his shirt sleeves rolled up, taunting his young opponent (who has around 120,000 Twitter followers).

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2650111...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150428tt

Against the Background of Xenophobia, South Africa celebrates 21 years of Democracy

South Africa celebrates 21 years of democracy against an atmosphere of anti-immigrant violence and xenophobia. While South Africa celebrates 21 years of its democracy, its youth continue to cry rage. South Africa has frequently been reported one of the most unequal countries in the world, riddled with poverty and joblessness At the celebrations in Pretoria Jacob Zuma spent much of his speech denouncing the recent xenophobic violence that left seven people dead and hundreds of foreign nationals displaced but he also hit back at African countries that have criticized South Africa for the attacks.  Zuma said as the country prepares to celebrate Africa month in May, African unity and multiple cultures need to be promoted. “We need to address the underlying causes of the violence and tension.”  Zuma said South Africa didn’t address the culture of violence after 1994. “Apartheid was a violent system and therefore produced a violent counter to it.” The president said while the country has made many improvements in the past 21 years, there are underlying issued in society that need to be dealt with. Zuma also said South Africans must acknowledge that they're full of anger following the recent spate of xenophobic attacks in the country. Since apartheid’s end – also in 1994 – politicians and officials in South Africa have consistently demonized foreigners, crediting them with sky-high crime rates, spreading debilitating disease, and sapping services and jobs. These accusations  resonate with portions of the population who are poorer than ever and remember an apartheid-era migrant labor regime that was explicitly designed to disempower Black South Africans.

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2647007...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150426st

Eskom's CEOs Come and Go

A lack of corporate governance and senior management in place at Eskom to take difficult decisions makes it near impossible to solve its technical and financial problems. On March 11, four most senior executives including CEO Tshediso were suspended by Zola Tsotsi, the chairman, who then threw in the towel himself. On 19 April, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown named Brian Molefe from Transnet as acting CEO. Mail & Guardian's editorial asks  why are South Africa's power stations so unstable that South Africa suffers from a constant 30% generating shortfall? Why the recurring deadline and budget overruns on major build projects, including the Medupi and Kusile power stations, now years behind schedule? Why does Eskom pay a king’s ransom for coal and diesel? The editorial conclusion is that  Eskom’s woes are, in no small measure, the result of political interference over many years.

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2645405...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150424mg

When the Elephants Clash

Bheki Cele former Commissioner of Police  and now Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries  has heavily criticised  the present Commissioner of Police Riah Phiyega in her role as head of SAPS.. Both are Zuma appointees. Cele  was suspended from his position as Police Commissioner due to allegations of corruption. Cele said he was agitated on Sunday morning when he saw a letter Phiyega had written to City Press’s Mondli Makhanya regarding the SAPS. “She says the nation must remember how gigantic the problems she found in the police was. That’s nonsense she’s speaking. She found a highly efficient organisation.”  He went on further to say  under Phiyega, more and more officers were leaving the police force. He was told that 300 resigned last month. “They leave from the top to the bottom. They leave that organisation. That organisation bleeds.”

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2642040...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150423tt

Obituary: John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu (1966 - 2015) RIP

Former Bafana Bafana midfielder John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu has died after a long battle with cancer. He won 73 caps and will be particularly remembered for starring in Bafana Bafana's 1996 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team. Moshoeu's career began in 1987 with local side Giant Blackpool and he went on to play for eight other teams including Kaizer Chiefs and Turkish giants Fenerbahce. He first played for South Africa in 1993 - a year after their return from a decades-long ban because of apartheid - and, incredibly, he was still part of the Bafana Bafana team at the 2004 Nations Cup at the age of 38. Danny Jordaan said " "Shoes was a genius on the field, an intelligent man off it. He was humble and always willing to give advice. He will be remembered for almost single-handedly defeating Ghana in South Africa's path to lifting the 1996 Nations Cup title. We have certainly lost a hero."

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2640746...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150421tt

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2636917...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon

150419st

Can Fikile Mbalula Count?

© 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved)

To order your free Zapiro cartoon image click on number above

You may place this image on your blogging site as long as
you link the cartoon back to http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/2634728...
and mention © 2014 Zapiro / www.zapiro.com (All rights reserved) underneath the cartoon