Cartoon Controversy: Zapiro ruling ends in settlement for satire

Few cartoonists have ruffled as many feathers as Daily Maverick’s resident cartoonist. Zapiro, celebrated for his sharp wit and fearless political commentary, is no stranger to controversy – or the courtroom.

In April 2025, Daily Maverick appealed a Press Ombud ruling that found Zapiro’s cartoon “Mouthing Off” in breach of the Press Code after it satirically depicted AfriForum and Solidarity’s claims about land reform as an orchestrated attack on white South Africans.

The matter was resolved after all parties reached a settlement “in the interest of press freedom”, according to a joint statement published by the Press Council on 14 October 2025.

The cartoon in question

The cartoon, published on 15 February 2025, portrayed AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel and Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann as the proverbial “boys who cried wolf”. In the first panel, they warn of “white genocide” and “they took our land”. In the second, the pair recline on pool loungers, being served cocktails while shouting “Wolf!”. The cartoon satirises the groups’ well-documented claims that land reform amounts to a systematic attack on white South Africans.

Geopolitics and context

Days before the cartoon was published, South African Donald Trump supporters gathered at the US embassy in Pretoria after an executive order signed on 7 February 2025 cited South Africa’s Expropriation Act as a primary justification for punitive measures, alleging it fuelled “disproportionate violence against racially disfavoured landowners”.

The order suspended US foreign aid to South Africa – 94% of it earmarked for HIV/Aids programmes under Pepfar. It also promised support for the resettlement of Afrikaner “refugees” escaping what the US administration termed “government-sponsored, race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation”.

AfriForum and Solidarity later rejected the offer of refuge.

The Washington memorandum

In March 2025, just two weeks after the cartoon ran, the organisations circulated a Washington memorandum during a trip to the US.

It described land reform as “racially discriminatory property confiscation” and praised Trump for recognising Afrikaners’ right to exist.

In its appeal Daily Maverick noted that such language implies an existential threat – a concept that under international law frames persecution as a crime against humanity. The memorandum also requested aid for an “Afrikaner development fund” to build parallel infrastructure to settle Afrikaners in a concentrated manner.

The appeal further cited a long record of similar statements that anchored Zapiro’s exaggerations in the public record. For example:

• In 2018, Ernst Roets, then AfriForum’s deputy CEO, wrote and tweeted about ethnic cleansing, warning that “whites [were being] threatened with genocide”;
• In 2019, Kriel accused critics of ignoring what he described as Julius Malema’s “murderous talk” about whites. In 2023, he tweeted that members of his “cultural community” were “literally being murdered”; and
• In January 2020, AfriForum published a statement falsely claiming that former deputy president David Mabuza had “threatened white farmers with a ‘violent takeover’ should they not volunteer to hand over some of their land”.

The legal battle: satire vs accuracy

The legal conflict began on 30 April 2025 when the Deputy Press Ombud found Daily Maverick in breach of Clause 1.1 of the Press Code, which requires truthful and accurate reporting. The Ombud held that the words “white genocide” could not literally be attributed to Kriel or Hermann and therefore stripped the cartoon of the protection afforded to comment and opinion.

In their complaints, AfriForum and Solidarity said the cartoon was a “malicious exaggeration” that misrepresented their official positions even as satire. According to the Deputy Press Ombud’s finding, they argued that it falsely portrayed them as having fed the narrative that led to the US refugee order.

Daily Maverick appealed on 20 May 2025, arguing that the Ombud had misapplied the Press Code by treating satire as reportage. Leave to appeal was granted the following month. Media lawyer Dario Milo, Cartoonists Rights Network International and Africartoons joined as amici curiae, warning that democracy requires breathing space for satire.

The settlement

Rather than proceed to a full hearing, the parties settled on 14 October 2025. The agreement made three key points:

• Daily Maverick confirmed that AfriForum and Solidarity have not made public claims that a present or pending “genocide” against white people in South Africa exists;
• AfriForum and Solidarity accepted that Zapiro’s cartoon was satirical commentary rather than a literal report, acknowledging that it commented on their concerns regarding prejudicial policies; and
• Daily Maverick withdrew its appeal, and AfriForum and Solidarity abandoned any reliance on the original April 30 Ombud ruling. DM