Fred Mouton Related News

BY JOHN CURTIS

South Africa’s top editorial cartoonists have banded together to protest against the government’s intended press restrictions.

In rejecting the proposed Protection of Information Bill and Media Tribunal, they have warned that these restrictions will erode the right to freedom of expression achieved by the country’s hard fought struggle for democracy.

MUHAMMAD CARTOON CONTROVERSY

Jonathan Shapiro - the cartoonist Zapiro - has entered the fray surrounding the depiction of the prophet Muhammad by drawing him lamenting his followers' lack of humour in a cartoon published in the Mail & Guardian newspaper today.

The cartoon's appearance comes in the wake of the international "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" challenge to a violent and threatening Islamic response to cartoon depictions of the prophet since 2005. Zapiro's fellow cartoonists are divided in their response to his cartoon.

PUBLISHERS ORDER 2nd IMPRINT OF POPULAR BOOK

'Don't Joke! The Year in Cartoons' - the inaugural annual of South African editorial cartoons - has sold so well since it was launched last December that the book's publishers, Jacana Media, have ordered a reprint in anticipation of stocks running out in two month's time.

WHEN WE THINK OF CARTOONS in South Africa, particularly those of us who live in Joburg, we tend to never think much further than the peerless Zapiro, or the quintessential northern suburbs Madame and Eve, but cartooning is alive and well in this country - and here's a book that proves it.