Malema takes cartoonist’s ‘white privilege’ joke seriously

EFF leader Julius Malema took to Twitter to react angrily to a tweet from cartoonist Jeremy “Jerm” Nell, in which he joked about using his “privilege” to buy groceries.

“I used my privilege to get groceries yesterday. Didn’t need money. It was amazing. I just told the teller that I’m privileged and she gave it all to me. How did you use your privilege?” Nell tweeted.

“Black child you are on your own. Look at voters of the new dawn,” was Malema’s response.

Most reacted to the tweet by assuming Malema had missed the joke completely and was suggesting that under an ANC government white people, or those who are “privileged”, are being given free groceries. There were some who interpreted Malema’s reaction differently, assuming he had indeed understood the joke but was outraged by it, and was referring to Nell as an ANC voter.

Nell himself assumed the former, responding to the leader of the red berets: “It was a joke, Julius. Nobody gives me groceries for free simply because of my skin colour. I pay for them like everybody else.”

Self-described as South Africa’s 39th-best cartoonist, Jeremy “Jerm” Nell is a cartoonist and satirist who has been active since 2005 and has been published in the Sunday Times, The Star, City Press, Rapport, Beeld, The Times, FHM, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Daily Maverick, The New Age, EWN, eNCA, and others.

His views appear to have moved considerably to the right since he started and his work is currently rarely found in mainstream publications, leading him to set up a Patreon account where his fans can fund work that “no editor or cartoonist wants to go near”.

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