Zapiro reacts after social media slams cartoon
Political cartoonist, Zapiro has spoken out after one of his recent works received backlash on social media.
Published on Tuesday in The Times, the satirist drew President Zuma as an organ grinder and NPA boss, Shaun Abrahams as a monkey dancing to the tune.
The instrument has the caption 'another state organ' above it while the words 'another organ grinder's monkey' were placed above the illustration of Abrahams.
This depiction is linked to the NPA's intention to apply for leave to appeal a high court ruling relating to the more than 700 charges of corruption against President Jacob Zuma.
The court had ruled that the NPA's 2009 decision to drop Zuma's prosecution was irrational.
Speaking to the Mail and Guardian, the artist linked to the controversy of depicting Zuma as a caricature with a shower head, said this was not meant to be a racial reference.
" I thought that what I was doing was pretty clear: a pretty clear metaphor, a pretty clear understanding of the way people are operating within the same scenario," he is quoted as saying.
Both, South African personalities and locals took to social media to share their thoughts.
Why hasn't @zapiro been sacked for his racist cartoon depicting blacks as monkeys? Easy. It would invite charges of anti-semitism.
— David Bullard (@lunchout2) May 26, 2016
But we can't be pretending this is the only time Zapiro has drawn racist cartoons as political satire
— Firebrand (@simphiwedana) May 25, 2016
.@zapiro's crass cartoon carries no aesthetic, moral, legal or political insight, so letting Abrahams off the hook. pic.twitter.com/0gaRqjwG74
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) May 24, 2016
Maybe Zapiro is no longer the one drawing and he is dead somewhere and a racist has taken over his name and releasing cartoons as him ?
— Anele Mdoda (@Anele) May 24, 2016
NSFW: @zapiro made my day. I still cannot stop laughing. What have you started Zapiro? Eish! #OrganGrinder pic.twitter.com/WjlwVbcbdS
— Public Protester (@Pasco_e) May 24, 2016