A Sad State of Affairs

February 20, 2021 / stidyatkusane / 4 Comments

NOTE: I wrote this piece shortly after I officially retired from the Witness newspaper but for some reason did not post it at the time. Since many of the concerns I raised remain as relevant now as they did back then and with the Covid-19 pandemic wreaking further havoc on parts of the print media, I decided it was still worth airing...

When I first joined the now-defunct SCOPE Magazine back in 1984 the print media was still in a state of rude good health, with full coffers and an ability to attract the brightest and the best, as well as providing a ready home for mavericks, misfits and nonconformists like myself. There seemed to be a lot more space for individual opportunism too.

Even when I got appointed to The Witness in February 1990, as their first-ever full-time political cartoonist, the industry was enjoying something of late Indian summer. With the final breaching of the apartheid wall and political change in the air, it was an exciting time to be a journalist and – again by association – a political cartoonist.

For a small, independent, provincial newspaper, the Witness, to my mind, boxed way above its weight and did an excellent job telling its readers what was happening on their patch. In fact, the newsroom was so stuffed full with reporters and specialist writers that, initially, there was no place to put a desk for me and I had to be content with a cardboard box on the floor – to which some wag glued another, much smaller, box and wrote on it:“Stidy’s Branch Office”. I decided to use this to my advantage and persuaded the editor to let me work from home.

Since then there has been a major tectonic shift. Faced with competition from the new technologies and declining circulation, newspaper budgets have been cut back to the bone, staff numbers slashed, the content has shrunk and newsrooms are now but a pale shadow of their former bustling selves. A lot of the old spirit has vanished with it; the atmosphere has become more muted and factory-like while the exodus of experienced journalists means that far less shoe leather is now expended on proper investigations.

As a result of all this, the law of unintended consequences has come into play – the cost-cutting measures have led to smaller newspapers and a more superficial content which, in turn, has caused the number of readers and advertisers to drop still further.

Looking back on it all I am just thankful that my career in cartooning happened before the rot set in too deeply and that I was offered this unique vantage point from which to view some of the major events of our recent past – the collapse of the old Soviet Union, the demise of Apartheid and the birth of the New South Africa, the recall of Thabo Mbeki and his replacement by Jacob Zuma (with all the attendant scandals) and, most sad of all, the passing of Nelson Mandela. Hopefully, my cartoons provided some sort of pictorial and historical guide to the period.

I now realise how lucky I was to have had the privilege to serve under editors of the calibre of Richard Steyn and John Conyngham, neither of whom tried to place any sort of restriction or requirement on what I drew. I am not sure how much longer that sort of artistic and editorial freedom is likely to continue.

Indeed, with continued declining circulation and more and more cutbacks, I suspect I am going to be the only full-time political cartoonist the Witness ever employed. As someone who believes in the continuing importance of visual satire, I find that sad. What worries me still further is that, in their weakened state, newspapers will no longer be able to properly fulfil their important watchdog role, giving the Government and, by extension, the municipalities yet more licence to do as they like.

I am still naïve enough to believe that a flourishing, diverse, credible, media is essential to a functioning democracy. Unfortunately, newspapers, in their current form, seem to be in a death spiral – and there doesn’t appear to be any any magic wand to save them.

FOOTNOTE:

In my almost thirty-years at The Witness, I have drawn literally thousands and thousands of cartoons. Here is a very arbitrary selection, showing some of the high but mostly the low points in our recent history…

This cartoon – depicting the collapse of the old Soviet Union – was one of the first I did for the Witness. It is still a favourite of mine.

Bracing for a Second Wave: Cartoons for November & December, 2020

December 31, 2020 / stidyatkusane / Leave a comment

According to the opposition Democratic Alliance, Msunduzi is far worse now than it was before it was placed under the “selective” and “ineffective administration, which served only to placate ratepayers rather than deal with the problems that had bought the city to its knees”. It is a view shared by many ordinary citizens who continue to voice their concerns over the ever-increasing signs of neglect and poor maintenance.

The Arctic is unravelling faster than anyone could have imagined just a few decades ago. Scientists have warned that the Greenland Ice Sheet, for example, is no longer growing. Instead of gaining new ice every year, it has begun to lose roughly 51billion metric tons annually, discharged into the ocean as melt-water and icebergs.

In the United States, President Donald Trump was condemned by opponents for firing the senior official who disputed his baseless claims of election fraud as the president pressed on with his his increasingly desperate battle to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. This despite the fact that officials declared 3 November’s contest between Trump and Biden the most secure US election ever.

Former President Jacob Zuma continued to duck and dive and do everything thing he could to avoid facing justice. Having briefly appeared before the state capture commission to hear whether his recusal application for commission chair Ray Zondo had been granted he disappeared, without being excused, during the tea break. The commission adjourned to reflect on what to do next.

There were mounting fears that Msunduzi could face a massive blackout if the municipality does not urgently deal with the persistent outages that have severely compromised the network. The City’s electricity problems was also strangling the local economy and some businesses were even considering leaving Pietermaritzburg for towns with more stable power supply.

South Africa has entered a second wave of Covid infections, breaching 6 000 new cases, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a special television broadcast. The peak age bracket is now between 16 and 19. “It’s believed to be due to a large number of parties involving young people drinking alcohol with no adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions, wearing of no masks and social distancing and hand sanitising not taking place,” Mkhize said.

In an address to the nation, President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced a tightening of Covid-19 restrictions, including the closure of KZN beaches during the main days of the festive season. He attributed part of the cause of the second wave of infections to a lack of compliance with safety measure such as social distancing.

In the wake of a year dominated by Covid-19, being cautious is probably the best thing you could do over the festive period so I decided to make that the subject of my Christmas cartoon.

2020 was a truly terrible year and I think most people were glad to see the back of it – hence my New Year cartoon…

A Pall of Gloom: Cartoons for July and August, 2020.

September 12, 2020 / stidyatkusane / Leave a comment

SUMMARY:

In the same week that Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, warned that South Africa was on the verge of a spike in Covid-19 cases, the Auditor-General (AG), Kim Makwetu, issued yet another damning report of incompetency and thievery in Kwa Zulu-Natal’s municipalities. According to Makwetu: “There was little change in the audit outcome of the province, accountability was not adequately practiced or enforced by leadership, and the failure of key controls continued.”

Most of the municipalities, including Msunduzi, remained in “dire financial health.”

According to a report tabled before the KwaZulu-Natal legislature’s portfolio committee on economic development, tourism and environmental affairs, the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown has had a devastating effect on Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. Reporting a shortfall of R34,5 million for April and May, they also estimated that they would lose R199 million from tourist-related revenue, and another R9.8million from other revenue streams.

As a result of this shortfall the already embattled agency may be forced to limit or even stop some of its conservation work unless they get a significant cash injection.

For the most part, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of steps in reaction to the sharp increase in Covid-19 infections appeared realistic and unavoidable. However, the decision to allow taxis to fill to capacity seemed bizarre if the object of the regulations was to break the chain of infections by, among other things, limiting the number of people in close proximity to each other. The ban on booze, while a logical way of combating drunken violence and in the process keeping health staff and beds free for Covid-19 cases, betrays governments incapacity to maintain law and order.

Pietermaritzburg was once again left choking when the New England Land Fill site caught alight. As a result, schools and businesses were forced to close early while those living by the dump complained of sore throats and nose bleeds.

Ironically, the inferno erupted just hours after the environmental consultancy company, Surg Sut, had spoken to The Witness about the measures they had put in place since being appointed to turn the situation around at the site and address environmental issues…

Adding to the pall of gloom hanging over the city, was city boss Mahodu Kathide’s frank admission that Msunduzi is broke and can’t even pay creditors on time. He was responding to questions related to the city’s financial situation as council expressed concerns about the runaway debtors book, theft of municipal services and the lack of movement on the indigent register.

With continued electricity outages over and above load-shedding, many residents were left wondering the point of the city being under administration, when they are being subjected to a deterioration of life.

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to exact a heavy toll on the country with South Africa ranked fifth globally in the number of infections with 493183 and 8005 deaths as at the 31^st July. This traumatic and tragic situation was compounded by increasing levels of government corruption, fraud and maladministration in relation to the amelioration of the virus.

The ANC’s faux apology and claim that it “hangs its head in shame” over the conduct of some of its members was greeted with overwhelming cynicism by a largely disillusioned public…

If further proof was needed that the ANC was slightly less that sincere in its commitment to fighting nepotism, cronyism and corruption it was provided by a City Press report that the party’s Secretary-General Ace Magashule and his family and allies continued to benefit from contracts awarded by the current Free State administration. Expressing their concerns as to what was happening in the country, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) committed itself to mobilising all sectors of society against government corruption which had been recently highlighted by the looting of Covid funds.

Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala attributed a surge in Covid cases in the province to complacency and a general disregard for lockdown regulations.

More evidence that South Africans were staring in to the abyss was then provided by researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial who warned that 2020 is shaping up to be worse than 2019 in terms of load-shedding. As if to confirm their prognosis, ESKOM promptly announced it was reintroducing Level 2 load-shedding with immediate effect…

It got worse. In the same week KZN premier Sihle Zikalala pledged to fight corruption within government, the ANC went ahead and deployed the thuggish, corruption-accused ex-mayor of eThekwini, Zandile Gumede, who is out on R50 000 bail, to the KZN legislature.

Approached for comment, Gumede said “All I am prepared to say is that I’m grateful that the ANC used Women’s Month to honour me by deploying me to the legislature.” Not many shared her sentiments, her appointment proving, once again, that the ANC acted only in its own interests and that public malfeasance was no impediment to advancing your career.

The ANC went on the defensive following comments by former finance minister Trevor Manuel that the party had squandered its achievements and that “the ‘Zuma Years’ were for South Africa a period of regression” and that “We’re a country that has lost its moorings and it is a tragedy.” In a statement, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said there was absolutely no basis to portray a doom-laden picture of the country to the media and to the outside world. He said Manuel should not fall in to the trap of an “ongoing onslaught” against the party, which he claimed was being choreographed on various social media platforms…

Caught Between a Covid-19 Rock and a Hard Place: Cartoons for March and April, 2020

May 2, 2020 / stidyatkusane / 2 Comments

In the same week it was announced that South Africa was in recession, King Zwelithini tried to lever support for a vanity project of his. Claiming, somewhat dubiously, to have the support of Britain’s Prince Charles, Zwelithini announced at the opening of the KZN Legislature that he wanted a dam – not just any old dam but the biggest and longest in Africa.

What he didn’t explain was how he expected it to be funded given the cash-strapped state of the country’s economy and the burgeoning national debt.

The World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a global pandemic as the virus, unknown to world health officials three-months ago, rapidly spread to more than 120 000 people across the world. The growing crisis saw the rand crash through R17/$ and South African shares plummet as scenes of market mayhem played out across the globe.

In the midst of this carnage, Eskom chose to announce it was once again implementing Stage Four load-shedding putting the already ailing South African economy under even greater strain.

With Italy seeing 475 deaths in one day – the highest daily toll in one country throughout the entire pandemic – World Health Organisation head Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Africa “to prepare for the worst and prepare today”.

His views were backed up by Professor Saloshini Naidoo, the head of public health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who said she could not emphasise enough the importance of behaviour change to prevent a wide scale and unprecedented spread of the virus in South Africa.

“These next two weeks are vitally important for people to adhere to the president’s recommendations and ensure that there is little to no contact with others so we can flatten the curve,” she warned.

Following the example of numerous other countries around the world, South Africa went in to full lock-down at midnight, 26^th March. The drastic measures, aimed at slowing the spread of the Covid-19 virus, included a complete prohibition on non-essential movement, a ban on liquor sales, a closure of public spaces, community halls and religious premises, all under penalty of prosecution.

The first week of the Covid-19 lock-down saw many South Africans already beginning to feel the pinch, with many of the self-employed fast running out of cash. Their anxiety levels were not eased by the warning from Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize, that they must not expect the increase in cases and deaths to slow immediately as a result of people staying at home. He added that the lock-down may need to be extended.

With the rate of infection from the Covid-19 soaring to unprecedented levels in the United States, President Donald Trump continued to bluster, misspeak and ad-lib his way through the crisis. Having earlier clung to a narrative of normality (It is a Democrat “hoax”, it is just a flu), he had been obliged to make an embarrassing U-Turn and now sought to transfer the blame for the pandemic elsewhere. He found another convenient scapegoat in the form of the World Health Organisation who he sharply criticised for being too focused on China and issuing bad advice during the outbreak.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa’s – and his Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize’s – political capital soared over their handling of the Covid-19 crisis in South Africa, the same could not be said of his grand-standing, thuggish, Police Minister, Bheki Cele. With many reports of police brutality emerging, he was criticised for, among other things, allowing his personal obsession with alcohol to lead to unconstitutional and criminal action by security force members.

In an address to the nation, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the gradual easing of Covid-19 lock-down restrictions from the beginning of May although public gatherings and movements would still be highly restricted and some parts of the country would remain in hard lock-down. The easing of restrictions meant the country would move from its current strict Level 5 lock-down to a slightly relaxed Level 4.

The Wilting Aloe – Cartoons for November and December, 2019.

January 5, 2020 / stidyatkusane / 2 Comments

SUMMARY:

In presenting his mini-budget to Parliament, Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni once again faced the near impossible task of trying to prevent government from spending more than it has, while maintaining what is one of the most redistributive economies in the world. Placing an aloe on his lectern he gave an update: the aloe is not doing well. “Our problem,” he said, “Is that we spend more than we earn.”

The long-running legal drama starring our former president continued with Jacob Zuma now maintaining the Pietermaritzburg high court “misfocused” on the gist of his permanent stay of prosecution application and was biased against him when it dismissed it. Zuma also dodged the latest round of the Zondo commission of enquiry in to state capture claiming he was ill.

For someone who continues to insist on his innocence of all the charges listed against him, Zuma seems to be going to extraordinary lengths to avoid having the opportunity to clear his name in court…

The deluges (including a tornado) that caused widespread damage and death across swathes of KwaZulu-Natal put all thoughts of drought out of most people’s minds. However, agricultural body, AgriSA, forcefully reminded the country of the damage drought has already caused and warned of the peril that exists if the government is not forthcoming with aid.

In the same week this was happening, Australia was hit by some of the worst bush fires on record, another timely reminder of the scary spectre of climate change…

Forcing SAA under was probably not the intention of the unions who went on strike demanding an eight per cent increase but that could well be the result. As Parliament was told the SOE is bankrupt, having run up a debt of over R28billion over the past 13-years. With little prospect of the situation improving there no longer seems any good reason to keep it on life support.

Non-compliance with key regulations as well as lack of accountability and consequence management were blamed for the regression in KZN provincial audit outcomes which saw the province get six qualified opinions for 2018/9, compared to four received in 2017/8. Only the Department of Social Development and the Provincial Treasury managed to score clean audits.

A never before seen affidavit, deposed by a former employee of On-Point Engineering, contains explosive evidence that EFF leader Julius Malema’s extravagant lifestyle was funded with money from Limpopo public coffers. For reasons it has not, to date, made clear the NPA chose to ignore this evidence and dropped the charges against Malema some time ago.

Having assured the public it wouldn’t happen in the near future embattled power utility Eskom once again introduced load-shedding. With the country teetering on recession, the impact of this was expected to be devastating with many companies and businesses predicting a bleak Christmas and a “worst ever” festive period.

Always happy to flog a dead horse I decided to make both my Christmas and New Year cartoons Eskom-related as well…

Something Rotten in Msunduzi: Cartoons For July and August, 2019:

August 31, 2019 / stidyatkusane / Leave a comment

SUMMARY: Pietermaritzburg’s woes continued with the municipality calling for urgent action to be taken to deal with the City’s runaway debtor’s book, which has run to more than R3,5 billion.

Former president, Jacob Zuma, made his underwhelming appearance before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry in to state capture, largely repeating what he has been saying for years – it is all a plot, there are spies afoot, there is no such thing as state capture.

Across the sea, Boris Johnson, the Brexiteer who has promised to lead Britain out of the European Union with or without a deal by the end of October, was elected to replace Theresa May as prime minister after winning the leadership of the Conservative Party.

The eThekwini Municipality finally owned up to the fact that Durban’s R170 million infrastructure projects have been wrecked by so-called “business forums” who have been extorting businesses for years. The MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environment Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube told the legislature that the government will “deal” with these business forums – many of whom were allies of the state capture faction of the ANC.

Even closer to home, a task team set up by the ANC to investigate the ongoing shenanigans in the Msunduzi Municipality, recommended the entire municipal top brass be axed including Mayor Themba Njilo. As if to emphasise the extent of the rot, the very next day it was revealed that the KZN Hawks were investigating a case of fraud against City officials over a R45 million swimming pool tender.

The following week the Msunduzi Municipality found itself without political leadership as the ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC), acting on its task team’s recommendation, duly removed the mayor and the entire executive committee (Exco).

The gap was later filled when the ANC KwaZulu-Natal leadership announced former Msunduzi councillor Mzimkulu Thebola as the new mayor of the municipality. The appointment of the relatively unknown Thebola was made on the back of speculation that the problems with the region and Msunduzi ANC caucus had resulted in high profile candidates declining to take the Msunduzi mayoral position.

I decided to end the month by tackling a subject very close to my heart – the environment. In this respect, it was a bad week for Pietermaritzburg with toxic effluent being spilled in to the Duzi river, toxic fumes being discharged in to the air from the burning municipal landfill site and uncollected rubbish left lying on the streets.

For the purposes of my cartoon, however, I chose to have a go at the denialist-in-chief, US President Donald Trump…

The Elections and After: Cartoons for May and June, 2019

July 6, 2019 / stidyatkusane / 2 Comments

SUMMARY:

With only a few days to go before the May 8 general election, all South Africa’s political parties were in a final push to woo citizens. Among those visiting KwaZulu-Natal were President Cyril Ramaphosa, former president Jacob Zuma and former deputy president Kgalema Mothlanthe.

As expected, the elections were won by the ANC, although the official results – which saw the party down to a 57% share of the votes from 62% in the 2014 elections – underlined the huge task which faces President Cyril Ramaphosa as he tries to push through his reformist agenda. For their part, the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, failed to make any gains while the radical Left, Economic Freedom Front, led by firebrand Julius Malema, was in third place – up four per cent from 2014. Reflecting a world-wide growth in nationalism, the Afrikaner-rights FF+ and the Zulu-orientated IFP also made substantial gains.

With the elections over, speculation next turned to what changes President Ramaphosa would make to his cabinet and whether he would cut the number of Ministries. Hopes were also expressed that he would use the pending cabinet reshuffle as an excuse to get rid of some of his more controversial ministers such as Bathabile Dlamini and Nomvula Mukonyane.

Cyril Ramaphosa was duly elected unopposed as president by the National Assembly. In a unifying speech in Parliament he promised to be “a President for all South Africans and not just the African National Congress”.

His message of inclusivity was not, unfortunately, picked up by all members of the party. In his inaugural address to the provincial legislature, the newly appointed premier of KZ-N, Sihle Zikalala, declined to pay tribute to the new official opposition, the IFP, by neglecting to mention that party’s previous premiers when he praised previous ANC premiers..

On the 29^th May, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally announced his new cabinet in the process downsizing his number of ministers from 35 under Zuma to 28.The big surprise was his appointment of Good Party leader, Patricia de Lille, who had quit the DA after months of acrimony, as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.

Underlining the huge problems facing Ramaphosa, was the news that South Africa’s economy had shrunk by more than three percent in the first quarter of 2019 – as load-shedding, a strike on the gold mines and a dire lack of investment hit growth. In KZN there was another fiery weekend on the roads with 17 truck-and-rigs being torched on the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban. To date over 200 people have been killed, 1400 vehicles damaged and R1,2billion lost as result of these ongoing incidents – losses the country can ill-afford with its economy under huge economic strain.

The divisions within the ANC once again came under the spotlight when it was announced that the ANC would launch a probe, chaired by Kgalema Mothlanthe, in to claims that its Secretary-General, Ace Magashule, was involved in the formation of the African Transformation Movement (ATM) – a rival political party – ahead of the previous month’s election. Former President Jacob Zuma’s confidante, Bishop Timothy Ngobo, who had aggressively campaigned for the new party, to which Zuma had also been linked, immediately rubbished the probe as being a “witch-hunt”.

Delivering his State of the Nation (SONA) speech in parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a number of measures to grow the economy, tackle poverty and unemployment and fight corruption. Whether the ambitious targets he set – such as halving violent crime in the next 10-years and creating two million jobs for youth over the same period – are achievable remains to be seen.

The following week, his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, confirmed he would testify before the Zondo Commission in to State Capture even though he believed it is “prejudiced” against him and “lacks requisite impartiality”. According to his lawyer the former president “can’t wait to attend…he is relishing the moment.”

Election time – the politicians mysteriously reappear.
The ANC wins the election.
President Ramaphosa considers his new cabinet.
A heavy load to carry.
Helen de Lille is a surprise cabinet appointment.
It is another fiery weekend on KZN roads.
The divisions within the ANC once more come to the surface.
President Ramaphosa aims for the stars in his SONA speech.
Former president, Jacob Zuma agrees to testify before the Zondo Commission.

And Then The Lights Went Out – Cartoons for March and April, 2019

May 4, 2019 / stidyatkusane / 2 Comments

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

Other than the fact he fainted while delivering it, there was nothing especially memorable about KZN premier Willies Mchunu’s State of the Province Address so instead of going with that as my cartoon topic I decided to kick off March, 2019, by tackling a subject that has really got the long suffering residents of Pietermaritzburg blowing their fuses – the city’s chaotic electricity billing system.

They had good reason for concern. Shortly after the latest fiasco the Auditor General issued a damning report warning that the city was on the brink of collapse.

As if this was not bad enough the situation was then made worse when workers in the crucial Finance Department, who administer the billing system, suddenly downed tools and embarked on a strike. According to sources within the ANC itself the pro-Zuma faction – who else? – had encouraged these labour ructions as part of a grand plan to make the city’s management look incompetent.

Meanwhile, at the national level, a bombshell report recommended that the self-same Jacob Zuma and others be prosecuted or disciplined after finding that he oversaw the creation of parallel structures within the intelligence services to serve his personal and factional ANC interests.

If there is one thing the former Number One has proved singularly adept at doing it is avoiding going to jail so don’t be surprised if he does so again…

South Africans then found themselves back in the dark with Eskom power supply becoming increasingly erratic, and blackouts often inexplicable. The sudden wave of Stage Four outages brutally brought home the true severity of the mess South Africa has been dumped in by the kleptocrats.

The gloom continued with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption campaign getting tainted by the revelation that his son, Andile, was paid R2Million by Bosasa/African Global Operations. Andile’s exploitation of his connections drew immediate comparisons with the dodgy dealings of Zuma and his family during the previous presidency.

We were not the only ones sinking deeper in to the mire. With her Brexit deal having been rejected three times by the House of Commons, embattled British PM, Theresa May, decided to reach out to the Leader of the Labour opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, in an effort to resolve the impasse. It was hard not to take the cynical view that she had only done so because she realised she had run out of road.

Having insisted, through her spokesperson, that she had no plans to place the Msunduzi Municipality under administration because of the awful mess it had got itself in to the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, then went ahead and did just that. Whether this belated “intervention”, as Dube-Ncube called it, will save the sinking ship is open to debate but the fact the beleaguered municipality has been placed under administration before – in 2010 – is not exactly an encouraging omen…

A tough task got made even more difficult for Sibusiso Sithole, the newly appointed administrator, when a group of ANC rebels then threatened to close down Msunduzi and other municipalities if their demands are not met before the election of May 8.

Since this occurred in the same week as Durban and the KZN coastline experienced some of the worst flooding in decades, I made the inevitable connection between the two events…