ZA NEWS on the web...because here we can!

<p align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>ZA NEWS</strong> is South Africa's first political satire web-tv show and </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">this is the inaugural episode. See </span><a href="http://www.zanews.co.za/"><span style="font-size:130%;">here</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> at ZANEWS online.<br /><br />Why is it on the web and not on TV? </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Because here we can!<br /><br /><center><script language="javascript" src="http://www.mg.co.za/zanews/embed_js/2009-10-10-zanews-weekend/500/281"></script><br /><div align="left"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Former South African President Thabo Mbeki sits alone in a dark bar. Pipe in one hand, empty glass in the other he agonises over what to order.<br /><br />"Bartender give me a Quiet Diplomacy... No, that doesn't do anything," he says.<br /><br />"Give me an African Renaissance... No, that never arrives.<br /><br />"Wait, I've got it - can you get me a Polokwane Surprise? It's vodka, sour grapes crushed ice and then you stab it in the back when it's not looking."<br /><br />It is a short but devastating summary of Mr Mbeki's delusions, failings and demise.<br /><br />Ten tortured years in the making, Za News, South Africa's first real attempt at televised political satire, has finally begun full production.<br /><br />But it will not be seen on South African TV.<br /><br />Originally commissioned by public broadcaster the SABC, a pilot episode was made but they refused to put it on air.<br /><br />Nic Dawes, editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper, says the SABC "backed off in terror when they saw the content" and that commercial broadcasters were "lily livered" when they refused to pick it up.<br /><br />"It's part of our place in this country to not sit around relaxed and pleased about the degree of freedom that we have in the media here but also to hold the space open," Mr Dawes says.<br /><br /><center><script language="javascript" src="http://www.mg.co.za/zanews/embed_js/2009-10-17-zanews-weekend/500/281"></script><centre><br /><br /></div><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;"></span></em></span></span><center></center><center><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Weekend Edition 17 October 2009</span></em><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Presidential pain</span></strong> </span></span></center><p align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The Mail & Guardian, along with Kulula airlines, are now funding Za News to produce three-minute shows four times each week and publish them online.<br /><br />"I do feel that we've been censored," says Jonathan Shapiro - the cartoonist and creative driving force behind Za News.<br /><br />"It is a kind of censorship that has very little to do with government.<br /><br />"It's a censorship that is based on the fears of people in corporations who are beholden to government."<br /><br />Mr Shapiro, or Zapiro as he is most widely known, says the troubled experience with Za News is in stark contrast to the huge freedom of expression he enjoys as a cartoonist appearing regularly in the Mail & Guardian.<br /><br />In fact his freedom as a cartoonist has lead to President Jacob Zuma beginning legal proceedings against him, demanding millions of rands for injuring his "dignity and reputation".<br /><br />The cartoons refer to Mr Zuma's acquittal on rape charges and his struggle to have corruption charges against him dropped.<br /><br />But Mr Shapiro believes the charges will be dropped, or at least forgotten, as Mr Zuma is unlikely to want to testify in court.<br /><br /><center><script language="javascript" src="http://www.mg.co.za/zanews/embed_js/2009-10-24-zanews-weekend/500/281"></script><br /><center><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;"></span></em></span></span><p></p><center><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Weekend Edition 24 October 2009</span></em><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Politicians divided</span></strong> </span></span></center><p align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Among the statesmen caricatured in latex perhaps the most eagerly anticipated was Julius Malema, the outspoken president of the ANC Youth League.<br /><br />To many South Africans, he is already something of a caricature in the flesh.<br /><br />Infamously he threatened to "kill for Zuma" and in Za News he is portrayed as an idiotic young sidekick of the president, sucking a lollipop or listening to an iPod.<br /><br />During TV interviews the puppet Julius Malema brandishes the dictionary of his Pedi language to back up his often ridiculous arguments.<br /><br />The real Julius Malema claimed that Caster Semenya, the champion sprinter whose gender has been queried by officials, could not be a hermaphrodite because "there is no such word in the Pedi dictionary".<br /><br />Though some within the ANC are thought to be chuckling, it does not seem that Mr Malema gets the joke.<br /><br />When asked for a comment on the programme's portrayal of him, Mr Malema's spokesperson hung up the phone.<br /><br />The only white puppet in Za News is Helen Zille, the Western Cape premier and leader of the opposition.<br /><br />She is relentlessly mocked on the show for her apparent addiction to botox.<br /><br />"With a face like that you need botox, eh?" she says while watching her puppet face stretched close to breaking point.<br /><br />Ms Zille says she is willing to accept the jokes as part of the territory.<br /><br />But she says SABC's rejection of the programme shows how it acts as a mouthpiece for the ANC rather than a public broadcaster.<br /><br /><center><script language="javascript" src="http://www.mg.co.za/zanews/embed_js/2009-10-31-zanews/500/281"></script><br /><center><br /><br /></span></span><p></p><center><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Weekend Edition 31 October 2009</span></em><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Scrutinising politicians</span></strong> </span></span></center><p align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">At 91 years old, Nelson Mandela is probably not catching the four weekly shows online - but according to Jonathan Shapiro he is a fan of his puppet.<br /><br />At a function to mark this departure from office in 1999 Mr Shapiro managed to bring together the real and rubber Mandelas.<br /><br />"I approached him [Mandela] through this field of bodyguards - stuck the puppet's hand out and he said: 'Oh I believe I have met this gentleman before'.<br /><br />"Which was fantastic, he really responds to humour and to satire and I wish more politicians would be like that."<br /><br />Though denied the broad reach that television would have brought, its backers believe Za News is making a real impact.<br /><br />"Politicians are never really under scrutiny and are never really asked hard questions. With our show we are creating a mini stage where we are asking those questions." says executive producer of Za News, Thierry Cassuto.<br /><br />The biggest relief for South African politicians may be that just 10% of the population have access to the internet.<br /><br />Or, as the puppet Julius Malema says in the show: "The internet? What is that? I have checked and there is no such word in the Pedi dictionary." </span></p><center><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></center><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><div align="left"><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/"><em>http://www.mg.co.za/</em></a><em> - </em><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/zanews"><em>Visit M&G's ZA News page</em></a><em> </em><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/zanews/multimedia/2009-11-05-zanews"><em>ZA NEWS November 5 2009</em></a> </div><div align="left"><br /> </div></span><center></center></center></center></center></center></center></center>

ZA NEWS on the web...because here we can!

ZA NEWS is South Africa's first political satire web-tv show and this is the inaugural episode. See here at ZANEWS online. Why is it o...

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SA satirists pulling the strings

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIsyFKVzsMuCzBGfH6dQprbAnk3mC5RM4yf957Jh_FVGrdk2qHVUNlOSJWUUjkJVDrYzSpd_Aw3INr2ijJhHdd-4c5wsuA71m2tj4TdcTzW2SyJkfVfE2h84AGEjS6Wn7F1wJq__y-KM/s1600-h/ZUMA-strings.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400720191056711266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIsyFKVzsMuCzBGfH6dQprbAnk3mC5RM4yf957Jh_FVGrdk2qHVUNlOSJWUUjkJVDrYzSpd_Aw3INr2ijJhHdd-4c5wsuA71m2tj4TdcTzW2SyJkfVfE2h84AGEjS6Wn7F1wJq__y-KM/s400/ZUMA-strings.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">CAPE TOWN. Just a week after cartoonist Zapiro launched his online news satire, ZA News, the state has accused his puppets of being "puppets". In a stinging attack this morning, the government warned that Zapiro was "pulling all kinds of strings" and accused him of being a "puppet-master" hell-bent on broadcasting a subversive doctrine called "comedy".<br /><br />Zapiro, currently ranked by the state as the third most dangerous person in the country after national football coach Joel Santana and anyone driving a car after dark near heavily armed police, launched ZA News online after failing to secure a deal with the SABC.<br /><br />The SABC already has a dedicated news satire show, in which parodies of government ministers behave outrageously without consequences. It is broadcast nightly at 7pm and is called The News.<br /><br />The new puppet show has been well received by the public, but this morning the government launched a broadside against what it called "a complete puppet show".<br /><br />According to spokesman Spokes Mashabane, government investigators had discovered that ZA News was not real news and that its presenters were puppets.<br /><br />"At first we looked at this news report on the television and we said, 'Goodness gracious! We know Comrade Julius's eyes are quite close together but this is very disturbing! What has happened to Comrade Julius? Has he maybe got his head caught in a woodworking vice? Has someone slammed his head in the door of his official BMW? Is one side of his face particularly heavy, so that when he sleeps on his side it slowly compresses?'<br /><br />"These are the kinds of questions we ask as government."<br /><br />But, he said, closer investigation had revealed that it was in fact a puppet and not Malema on television.<br /><br />"We know Zapiro is one of the puppet-masters," said Mashabane. "But who are the others?"<br /><br />According Zapiro there are two other puppet-masters. However they wished to remain anonymous as they had both promised their wives that they would "stop playing with dolls" and did not want them to know they were involved with the show. </span><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>hayibo.com</em></span><br /></p>

SA satirists pulling the strings

CAPE TOWN. Just a week after cartoonist Zapiro launched his online news satire, ZA News, the state has accused his puppets of being "pu...

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Woman survives shot to the head by armed gang : VIDEO

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Saartjie Koen was meant to die. A robber had grabbed her around the neck, put a pistol to her head and pulled the trigger.<br /><br />Instead the bullet grazed Koen's skull, knocking her to the ground. Her assailants grabbed her handbag, then ran off, one of them pausing to kick her in the head as he made his escape.<br /><br />The robbery, captured on closed-circuit television, took less than a minute from the time Koen drove into the car park to when the three robbers climbed back into their white VW Golf.<br /><br />Miraculously, Koen, 60, who was left lying in the driveway, was alive after being shot three times in the leg, arm and head.<br /><br />Two months later Koen is still recovering, but no one has been arrested for the robbery that took place in Silverton, Tshwane. It is for this reason that her husband Hannes opted to hire a private investigator.<br /><br />Now Daryl Els, of Christian Botha Investigations, believes he is on the trail of a gang of robbers who operate from Tembisa and specialise in what police refer to as associated robberies.<br /><br />This involves robbing victims after they leave a bank having withdrawn a large amount of cash. The gang has, over several months, targeted Pretoria's eastern suburbs. Els wants to talk to an 18-year-old woman called Nombuso Nkosi who he believes could have information about the robbery. She lives in Tembisa.<br /><br />In August, Koen, on her way to work, was followed from a Silverton branch of Absa Bank after she had withdrawn R50 000. Afterwards she drove to her family business, Trio Trade. As she parked her car, she didn't notice the white Golf pull up outside the gate.<br /><br />One of the men knocked out the security guard.<br /><br />"As I was getting out of the car, the two were on me. They didn't talk, they just shot," Koen recalled.<br /><br />One of the robbers fired twice, hitting Koen in the right leg and left arm. The man tried to grab her handbag, but Koen fought back. Then his accomplice came up behind her, put his arm around her neck and shot her.<br /><br />Just metres away, in his office, Hannes saw what was happening. He saw the gun pushed against her head, and a puff of smoke as the bullet left the barrel. "At that moment I thought she was dead," he said. But Koen was conscious.<br /><br />"I was fine. I was screaming 'please help'. There was blood streaming from me," she said. Seconds later, her husband rushed her to hospital.<br /><br />What can be seen in the CCTV footage is another vehicle, believed to be a white Toyota Venture, following the Golf.<br /><br />"The Venture probably had the spotter, who identified the target," said Els.<br /><br />The usual modus operandi is that the spotter watches out for a target in the bank, then leaves the bank and passes on the information to the robbers, who commit the crime.<br /><br />Police say associated robberies are on the increase, as criminals are finding bank customers softer targets than cash-in-transit vans.<br /><br />They are also more violent.<br /><br />Police believe the gang that tried to kill Koen is probably the same one operating from Tembisa responsible for a spate of robberies. The gang is believed to have more than 20 members.<br /><br />Koen will go into surgery on November 13. She hopes to regain full use of her wrist.<br /><br />She hasn't seen the CCTV footage of the robbery - and doesn't know if she wants to.<br /><br /><object height="349" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mPkrjjM0GS8&border=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mPkrjjM0GS8&border=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="349"></embed></object><br /><br />Anyone with information on Nombuso Nkosi can call Daryl Els at 082 877 2168 or Frans Molokome at 082 682 0161. </span><p></p>

Woman survives shot to the head by armed gang : VIDEO

Saartjie Koen was meant to die. A robber had grabbed her around the neck, put a pistol to her head and pulled the trigger. Instead the bulle...

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