Changing of the guard

Is there no easy way of talking about the first decade of this century? I mean the Sixties, Seventies, etc, make such sense. But what were those first 10 years - the Zeros? Anyway, as the Zeros neared their end, the ugliness of politics in SA really started to emerge. Gone was Nelson Mandela and the gentleman-like qualities he brought to the ANC. In his place, first Thabo Mbeki, then Jacob Zuma. Nuff said.

This doodle, probably again done with my left hand, perhaps sums up the way I felt about the state of the nation, notwithstanding that progress was being made to get us ready for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. There was just too much crime, corruption, nepotism, ineptitude, and so. And, as a sub-editor on the Herald in PE, it was my job to reflect this mess.

In December, 2007, we watched in awe as a white woman called on her "comrades" to behave as the votes were counted at the ANC's Polokwane congress, and Zuma replaced Mbeki as leader of the party.

But Thabo stuck around a little longer, which enabled him to keep on appeasing the merciless dictator, Robert Mugabe, of Zimbabwe. This picture I cut out of the Sunday Times sometime in 2008. It certainly tells the story.

I made a habit of printing out the first takes on the wire service of major events, and this was another one. In September, 2008, Mbeki stepped down as president, and we were left with a man with a huge question mark over him. We had lost a wimp and gained what? Time will tell.

This doodle from the period seems, again, to capture the none-too-pleasant mood.

Wise-fools, I see, is the name of the music group who performed at the opening of this show. The drawing looks like a molar with nice long roots.

I was laying out pages galore during the Zeros. Here I added a head to my work, as outlined on a flat plan of the day's Herald.

These drawings are done on a page from a news diary. It should be possible, from the news events, to work out when this was.

The Sunday Times's LifeStyle magazine wins award aplenty for its layout, and with good reason. Anyway, one was lying around when I felt the doodle urge coming on.

Finally, a bit of respite in smooth, gently flowing lines.

Then a blast from the late 1980s. Former colleague Peter Dickson gave me this photocopy of a letter to the Herald editor around 1989.