Rape of SA depicted

I READ with dismay the diatribe in the Cape Times under the hand of Gasant Abarder wherein he strangely enough commits literary suicide when he states “It is surprising, the level of ignorance displayed by seemingly educated men who should know better, too”. He builds Zapiro up and then endeavours to shoot him down by calling him lazy and callous which appear to be words chosen at random and are so far from the truth as to be laughable… a less lazy and/or sensitive cartoonist would be very hard to find.

The heinousness of the crime of rape and the pervasiveness of its culture is known to all, but this fact has nothing to do with the cartoon in question; to give you an example, I refer you to a recent radio discussion on Cape Talk relating thereto, to which I listened, and during the discussion four ladies responded separately and while all agreed that the cartoon elicited some shock they felt that it sent a strong message.

Before I refer to the graphics of the cartoon I should mention that “the rape of Lady Justice” to which Abarder refers, was certainly not a master print for the current cartoon despite the fact that the theme was, in effect, the same. A further crass statement in the article in question contained the allegation that Zapiro thought nothing of depicting black people as monkeys and I suspect that the reference relates to the cartoon of the organ-grinder and the monkey and represents the government political boss and his sycophant.

What astounds me, if the instance to which I have referred is the one Abarder had in mind, is the inability of a man of his standing to comprehend a well-known English metaphor. Unfortunately, in my experience English metaphors, nowadays, often seem to be labelled as racist.

Now, turning to the relevant, deeply sensitive and possibly shocking cartoon which deals with the woman (South Africa) being raped by two easily identified gangsters, one of whom has already raped South Africa and the other is about to deliver the coup de grace while the lackeys (identified) provide the strong-armed assistance; one might say that all of this is obvious, well, that is what it is supposed to be… As I have said above, the pervasiveness of the rape culture and the prevalence of this crime is, in fact, irrelevant insofar as this cartoon is concerned… WHY? Because it does not belittle or denigrate women, nor does it detract from the odiousness of the crime, but it does personify the rape of South Africa.

At first sight, the cartoon may appear to be shocking but, in what other more appropriate manner could Zapiro with great sensitivity have depicted the rape of South Africa? And, finally, it is the best anti-rape advertisement ever published.