CoSATU calls Zapiro rape cartoon defamatory and outrageous

by Tina Kells | September 8, 2008 at 02:37 pm

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South Africa's ruling party leader, Jacob Zuma, is outraged by a political cartoon that ran over the weekend portraying him as a rapist. The cartoon, by well-known South African political cartoonist Jonathan "Zapiro" Shapiro, appeared in the Johannesberg Sunday Time newspaper.

"While we accept that cartoonists have the licence to express controversial views, yesterday's (Sunday's) cartoon is in extremely bad taste and goes way beyond limits of acceptability," Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement.

The cartoon by Jonathan Shapiro, known as Zapiro, appeared in the Sunday Times newspaper.

It shows a woman, wearing a sash with the words "Justice System", being pinned down by African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema and the secretaries general of the ANC, SA Communist Party and Cosatu - Gwede Mantashe, Blade Nzimande and Zwelinzima Vavi.

Zuma looks on while unzipping his pants, with Mantashe urging him to "Go for it, boss!".

Congress of South African Trade Unions (CoSATU) spokesperson, Patrick Craven, has demanded an immediate apology and printed retraction from Shapiro and the newspaper, calling the depiction "highly defamatory" and claiming it is intended to bias voters against Zuma.

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