Personally, I don’t think that Jonathan Shapiro’s working name, Zapiro, coincidentally rhymes with ‘hero’; it must have been engraved upon him by the great ancestors of South African cartoon history. Again, I should add that that’s my personal opinion and belief. I keep repeating that because more and more people politically judge each other based on which political figure a person vocally appreciates. Like if I said I admire Helen Zille as a politician (or Zapiro as a cartoonist, in this case), people would assume that I’m anti-ANC/Zuma. But that’s totally away from today’s topic. Anyway, this Zapiro guy is a living legend in-terms of political satirists. His drawings have been published since the apartheid days, when it was somewhat brave for a white person to be anti-apartheid, let alone share it with the whole country in the form of cartoons featuring public/political figures. His drawings are informative, funny, clever, witty, and most of all, creative. I don’t what to concentrate on the dude’s work on this week’s post, so I’ll stop there. I want to discuss his latest ‘battle’; this time with the SABC. If you haven’t been reading up on it this week, I’m gonna share a brief version of it with you, then eventually get to the whole point of this post, god willing.
I’ve mentioned ‘cartoon’ so many times already in this post that I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who doesn’t know Zapiro is probably asking which SABC channel the cartoons air on and what time. Lmao. Okay, okay let me clarify the actual story. SABC 3 was supposed to air an episode of Special Assignment (this past Tuesday) based on freedom of speech, with the core focus being on political satire (Zapiro’s newspaper cartoons, the Nando’s election adverts, etc.); and how political parties and Government regulate what satirists can and cannot say. This particular episode was initially supposed to air a week before the elections, but the powers at SABC pulled it; defending themselves as saying the episode didn’t have ‘balance’. Don’t worry; I also don’t know what the fuck that was supposed to mean. Anyways, fast-forward to this past Tuesday. After SABC 3 advertising it for a week before (and getting me amped as shit to see it), at approximately one hour before it was supposed to play, a video message with some head honcho from SABC is aired; with this bra saying that it won’t be playing anymore. What the fuck? It got canned again! Now the most ironic thing about the whole ordeal is that this episode focuses on freedom of speech in our country. This makes SABC look stupid as hell for going against freedom of speech by going against an episode that goes against the country going against freedom of speech. I’m sorry but that was the simplest way I could put it.
As you’d already expect, this dumb ass gave a nonsensical reason why they stopped the episode from airing. You know how they do. They mash unusual English terms together to try (and actually succeed in) confusing you; (kinda like Mokotedi Mpshe’s reasoning on why they didn’t charge Jigga, but that’s a whole ‘nother story all together). Trust me, the problem with the SABC guy’s statement is not the politically-correct English; the problem is with the absence of an actual convincing point in his statement. And I quote, "Tonight’s episode of Special Assignment will not be aired owing to the fact that due process with regards to consultation has not been concluded”… yada-yada-yada …“CEO Mr Gab Mampone in his capacity as editor-in-chief will need to make the final sign-off”…blah-blah-blah…
This whole issue of SABC canning the Special Assignment episode was heavily scrutinized by the media after Tuesday night, obviously. It caused a big dent in the public’s perception of SABC’s integrity. Another blow came later in the week when the Mail & Guardian newspaper uploaded the full video of the episode on their website for everyone to see. Since I get free internet here at work (who doesn’t?), I figured I’d just play it from my work pc with a cup of coffee in my hand and my earphones volume set to ‘10’. At that time of reading about it being leaked to the net, I was literally on my way to work. By the time I arrived at the office, them samama-bitches at SABC had already pulled it from the M&G site. Wow.
Here’s my own personal verdict of all the bull. Now we all know at this point that the ANC doesn’t/didn’t want the public seeing the episode. The Special Assignment brand is known for the programme’s cutting edge, no-bullshit taking approach to journalism and exposing the real facts behind our country’s crime stories. The ANC have always known it too. The ANC know that anything Zapiro draws about them is in a factual light; but therefore a negative light, at that, (if you get what I mean). The ANC know that Jacob Zuma is suing Zapiro for drawings he did of him in the past, therefore Zapiro is one of the bad guys in Jigga’s eyes. And finally, the ANC know that they’ve got SABC at the palm of their hand. So it only made sense that they tell SABC to shut down the airing of the episode, or else the SABC itself will get shut down, lol. They couldn’t stand to let the SABC, their own baby, air something that would paint our President in a negative light; especially so soon after his inauguration. Whether the Special Assignment episode was biased or not, the ANC weren’t prepared to take that chance. It’s just a shame that the SABC are the ones taking the falls for this; seeing that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they are expected to deliver unforgiving, unfavouring journalism; but on the other, they had to stay loyal to their parents.
Somebody tell Zapiro to holla at 3rd Degree. Y’all know eTV don’t give a fuck. Happy Friday haters!
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