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111020tt 11 10 20 20 Oct 2011 The Times

Secrecy Bill in historic perspective - Government action on the press - Black Wednesday Remembered

Noting the date of 19th October, Zapiro's cartoon is based on Jock Leyden's 1973 cartoon, when Vorster's apartheid government interfered with the media and on Black Wednesday (19th October 1977), when that same government banned a number of newpaper titles.

34 years ago, on Black Wednesday, 19 October 1977, the apartheid regime banned publications including The World and Weekend World newspapers and Pro Veritate (a Christian publication), alongside 19 black organisations (including 17 Black Consciousness organisations such as the Black People’s Convention, South African Students Organisation, South African Students’ Movement, National Association of Youth Organisations and all its affiliates, Black Community Programmes, Medupe Writers’ Association, Zimele Trust Fund, Black Women’s Federation, Union of Black Journalists and others; the Association for the Educational and Cultural Advancement of the African People of South Africa and more) and detain scores of critics.

Jock Leyden was an internationally acclaimed cartoonist, particularly in the field of sport; but he was also much admired for his theatre and political cartoons. He was singled out by Time magazine as one of the top six newspaper cartoonists of the 20th century.

Like you I am a student of history - Government action - Secrecy Bill - Remember Black Wednesday Secrecy bill Black Wednesday Jock Leyden Apartheid Censorship Media interference Jacob Zuma John Vorster

BLACK WEDNESDAY: 19TH OCTOBER 1977 – LEST WE FORGET
Jock Leyden Cartoonist

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Noting the date of 19th October, Zapiro's cartoon is based on Jock Leyden's 1973 cartoon, when Vorster's apartheid government interfered with the media and on Black Wednesday (19th October 1977), when that same government banned a number of newpaper titles.

34 years ago, on Black Wednesday, 19 October 1977, the apartheid regime banned publications including The World and Weekend World newspapers and Pro Veritate (a Christian publication), alongside 19 black organisations (including 17 Black Consciousness organisations such as the Black People’s Convention, South African Students Organisation, South African Students’ Movement, National Association of Youth Organisations and all its affiliates, Black Community Programmes, Medupe Writers’ Association, Zimele Trust Fund, Black Women’s Federation, Union of Black Journalists and others; the Association for the Educational and Cultural Advancement of the African People of South Africa and more) and detain scores of critics.

Jock Leyden was an internationally acclaimed cartoonist, particularly in the field of sport; but he was also much admired for his theatre and political cartoons. He was singled out by Time magazine as one of the top six newspaper cartoonists of the 20th century.

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John Curtis "LEYDEN WITH PARALLELS: Zapiro recycles a 1973 cartoon by the talented Jock Leyden to demonstrate frightening parallels between government interference with the media under the apartheid era rule of John Vorster, and that of the incumbent President Jacob Zuma. Almost exactly four years after the original Leyden cartoon was drawn, state regulation of the press reached its zenith with the banning of certain newspaper titles on a day - October 19th, 1977 - which would henceforth be remembered as Black Wednesday. Zapiro's cartoon marks that date and also sounds a warning bell that we are headed in the same direction"



Keywords for this cartoon:

Apartheid, Black Wednesday, Censorship, Free Press, Jacob Zuma, jgc, John Vorster, Laws, Leyden, Media Freedom, Post Apartheid, Protection of Information Bill, Right 2 Know, Secrecy, Tribute



On Wednesday, the 19th October 1977, that devil incarnate, Jimmy Kruger, South Africa’s Minister of Justice, banned seventeen Black Consciousness organisations, viz. the Black People’s Convention, South African Students Organisation, South African Students’ Movement, National Association of Youth Organisations and all its affiliates, Black Community Programmes, Medupe Writers’ Association, Zimele Trust Fund, Black Women’s Federation, Union of Black Journalists and others;  the Association for the Educational and Cultural Advancement of the African People of South Africa (ASSECA) and some publications, notably The World.