Zuma sues SA Newspaper Over Cartoon

By Eric Sande

Johannesburg---South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has filed a $731,000 (£460,000)-defamation suit against his country's Sunday Times award-winning cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro and former Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya over a controversial cartoon depicting him about to 'rape justice system'.

He compiled his judicial writ against a cartoon drawing published on 7 September 2008 that showed him unbuckling his belt in front of a blindfolded woman who is being held down by leaders of the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP), the ANC Youth League and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). This happened just after Zuma was acquitted of rape charges.

In a statement on Monday, the ANC, SACP and ANC Youth League said they deplored the Sunday Times's abuse of press freedom by publishing a "disgusting cartoon" that "borders on defamation of character and insults the integrity of the secretary general of the ANC, comrade Gwede Mantashe, and alliance leaders".

The president wants his defamation suit to be paid with an additional 15.5 per cent interest since the date of publication. He has given the three parties 21 days to respond.

Eric van der Berg, attoney for the South Africa's Sunday Times, said notice from the president's lawyers had arrived at the paper's Johannesburg offices Monday beyond their expectations.

” We are surprised to receive this almost two years down the track. That is all we have to say at this stage, “said Berg.

 Zuma stated that the cartoon was degrading and had left him feeling humiliated.

Relations between the ANC and the media have been strained for years. The ANC has chafed at reporting on government corruption, and accuses many journalists of being biased against the party. Reporters and rights watchdogs accuse the party of backsliding on freedoms that were won with the defeat of apartheid and are now enshrined in one of the world's most liberal constitutions.

The ANC has proposed a secrets law that could jail reporters for publishing classified information, and the party is also contemplating creating a media tribunal. The tribunal would be controlled by politicians and would have undefined powers to punish journalists for infractions that also are unclear. Both campaigns have stalled amid wide protest, but ANC leaders have not abandoned them.