ZAPIRO DEFENDS HIS MACIA CARTOON

In a rare written response to criticism over his cartoons, Zapiro has come out in defence of his latest to cause a stir.

The cartoon depicts the brutal torture by police of a Mozambican taxi driver, who later died.

Many readers (in comments on our facebook page, and elsewhere) expressed outrage at what they saw as being a disrespectful depiction of the victim in a cartoon, while many others have said that it is fair comment in that it targets the perpetrators, not the victim.

Zapiro's letter first appeared in The Sunday Times:

"The concept for the cartoon was to use the brutal dragging of Macia as a metaphor for the image of our nation in the eyes of the world," Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, wrote in an opinion piece published in the Sunday Times.

He was responding to a reader's letter from a Jeff Nyoka in which he questioned whether Zapiro considered how Macia's relatives would feel if they saw his death being "cartooned".

The cartoon depicts a man chained to the back of a police van, being dragged along the street. His mouth is open, as if screaming in agony, and on his clothing are the words "SA's reputation".

"The face is not a caricature of Macia's, nor is there a label identifying him by name," he wrote.

Zapiro said he was commenting on South Africa's reputation.

"We South Africans and our reputation are being dragged and shredded by police brutality, as well as our own endemic violence. Implicit in the cartoon, through the use of the word 'reputation', are references to other recent acts of violence that have shocked the world."

Zapiro cited the gang rape and murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen and the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp by paralympian Oscar Pistorius as examples.

Macia was dragged behind the van on Tuesday, February 26. He died later that day in the holding cells of the Daveyton police station.

The bail application of the nine policemen accused of causing his death resumes on Monday.

Posted on Mar 12, 2013 by Africartoons