''ZANEWS'' (now also known as ''Puppet Nation ZA'') is a South African satirical puppet show first produced in 2008 by Both Worlds, a

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

based production company. The show is a daily and weekly satirical news programme in the form of a mock puppet television newscast and features on both the web and TV. ''ZANEWS'' features key local and international political figures and celebrities. For eight seasons, ''ZANEWS'' has been using its puppet cast as mouthpieces for satirical commentary on South Africa's public space. Inspired by the cult British television series ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

'' along with the French equivalent, '' Les Guignols'', ''ZANEWS'' has been aired on the web and TV since 2009 on a range of media platforms, the most prolific of these being the show's online presence. The show's motto of 'Make Laugh. Not War’ has perpetuated the show's portrayal of South African and international politicians and celebrities in its news format. The show is the only South African satirical puppet show, but is somewhat similar to the Kenyan produced The XYZ Show. In September 2016 it was announced that ''Puppet Nation ZA'' was a nominee for Best TV Comedy in the

44th International Emmy Awards The 44th International Emmy Awards took place on November 21, 2016, in New York City and was hosted by actor Alan Cumming. The award ceremony, presented by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS), honors all TV programming ...

History and development

''ZANEWS'' started in 1997 when French producer

Thierry Cassuto Thierry Cassuto (born 29 April 1959, in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, in France) is a film and television producer based in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied at Université de la Sorbonne in Paris and at Boston University, where he graduated with a Master ...

and South African cartoonist

Jonathan Shapiro Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician ...

with the help of Jeffrey Fineberg from ''Spitting Image'' made their first puppet of former South African president Nelson Mandela. "Shapiro was invited to a farewell garden party and sneaked the Mandela puppet in. He approached Mandela, much to the mirth of the members of government and politicians present and extended the puppet’s hand. Mandela didn’t miss a beat of course and shook the puppet’s hand saying: ‘Oh, I believe I have met this gentleman before’". The show launched its first season on the ZANEWS website and YouTube with the assistance of low cost airline Kulula.com. Cassuto and Zapiro spent years trying to shop ''ZANEWS'' to a variety of broadcasters. The show was commissioned by the national broadcaster but when they demanded editorial control the deal fell apart. “People aren’t ready for this,” was the message they got time and time again. And this was incorporated into the script and the show's slogan of ‘Why are we doing this? Because here we can!' The storylines of Season 1 to 8 have developed along the lines of current news stories and events, with more characters being added to the show’s lineup. The eighth season of ''ZANEWS'' began in November 2014. The show's YouTube channel has over 4 million hits to date. ''ZANEWS'' is produced South Africa with puppet caricatures of mostly local politicians, celebrities and the everyman, bringing audiences a mix of the latest and most current events, parodying the formulaic style of media broadcasting. In 2012 the show began airing on

TopTV StarSat (formerly TopTV until 31 October 2013) is a South African direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth di ...

's channel Top One, a South African satellite TV service. hey also launched a bigger website, ‘ZANEWS Network’, meant to be the online portal for quality South African satire. The site hosts their weekly episodes and daily videos shows as well as the best satirical columns, fake news, cartoons and user-generated content. In the same year the co-creator of ''

'',

Roger Law Roger Law (born 6 September 1941, in Littleport, Cambridgeshire), is a British caricaturist, ceramist and one half of ''Luck and Flaw'' (with Peter Fluck), creators of the popular satirical TV puppet show ''Spitting Image''. Roger Law was a pi ...

made a documentary for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, entitled ''South Africa Spits Back''. Law visited ''ZANEWS'' in South Africa to find out just how 'colourful comedy can get in the Rainbow Nation'. In November 2013, the show started its sixth season on StarSat (formerly TopTV) under the new title ''Puppet Nation''. ZA

Production

Shows are recorded and produced at the Both World's studios in Cape Town. All departments, from management, writers, crew, and fabrication along with post-production and on-line management are found on these premises. ''Puppet Nation'' is structured as a 30-minute news show and the turnaround time from script to online / televised broadcast is three working days, which means ''ZANEWS'' is able to produce a weekly news show that is extremely current, with close to 80 puppet caricatures of local and international celebrities. Justice Malala and Debora Patta host the show. The characters consist predominantly of South African politicians with a growing number of international celebrities and sports personalities joining the ranks each year, namely individuals that would be likely to feature in the general news, the show is therefore structured as such. When the show first began, Tim Modise, as the news anchor, with the ‘ZANEWS team’, investigates the top stories of the day and interviews and engages with a number of prominent South African and foreign politicians, celebrities and sports stars as a news show would. He was joined in Season 5 by firebrand reporter

Debora Patta Debora Patta (born 1 September 1964) is a South African broadcast journalist and television producer investigative journalist. She was born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and has origins from Calabria, Italy. Patta is the Africa correspon ...

(whose strange orange skin tone the show makes fun of) then by popular political analyst Justice Malala in season 6. Separated from the news show is the Tata and Tutu skit which involves a parody of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu discussing the events of the day but also offering their opinions on these current issues and regarded as the 'moral voices'. On a number of occasions, the puppet cast has been joined by well known comedians along with their real-life counterparts. Season 4 saw a number of these ‘in the flesh’ shows in which certain politicians and celebrities featured in the show along with their puppet counterparts. Most striking of these episodes were those of Premier of the Western Cape and official opposition leader

Helen Zille Otta Helene Maree (''née'' Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she w ...

and, at the other end of the political spectrum,

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union expelled, ...

(COSATU)’s General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who interacted with their puppet counterparts. News anchor Tim Modise, radio DJ Gareth Cliff, sportsman Pieter de Villiers and comedians Riaad Moosa, Marc Lottering and

Nik Rabinowitz Nik Rabinowitz is a South African comedian, actor and author, who has made guest appearances on several comedy shows, including the British panel show Mock the Week. He also appeared in the 2012 film Material. He currently resides in Cape Town. ...

also featured on the show. In 2010 ''ZANEWS'' collaborated with a South African band

Freshlyground Freshlyground are a South African Afro-fusion band that formed in Cape Town in 2002. The band members have different backgrounds, including South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Freshlyground's musical style blends elements of traditional Sou ...

on their music video for their song "Chicken To Change". The video was nominated for "Music Video of the Year" at the 17th Annual

South African Music Awards The South African Music Awards (often simply the SAMAs) are the Recording Industry of South Africa's music industry awards, established in 1995. The ceremony is held annually, usually in late April or May, with the judging process starting in N ...

(SAMA) sponsored by MTN. The government of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

banned Freshlyground over the music video because it portrays its president

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

as a chicken afraid to relinquish power. In August 2014 ''ZANEWS'' released a parody of ‘Wrecking Ball’ by Miley Cyrus. The video starred the puppet of South Africa's Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, and the lyrics were written by popular South African comedian, Deep Fried Man. The video received over 122 000 views between its release and February 2015 and received massive media attention, with Thuli Madonsela herself discussing it on eNCA.

Broadcast dates

Series Since 2009 the show has been broadcast through a variety of media platforms. These are on certain television channels, Summit TV,

and

Cape Town TV Cape Town TV is a community television channel that broadcasts in Cape Town, South Africa. It launched in September 2008 with a one-year, "temporary" license and thereafter won another such license in September 2009. It is a non-profit organisa ...

. And the show has its own home on the ''ZANEWS'' website, YouTube channel, Twitter and Facebook page. In 2012 ''ZANEWS'' started their new website, which featured satirical content from all around

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The site became more interactive, with visitors being able to sign up as 'Bloody Agents' and featuring columns from 'Agent Provocateurs' such as Andrew Donaldson, Chester Missing, Ndumiso Ngcobo, Marianne Thamm, Ben Trovato and Political Agony Aunt Zama Ndlovu. The site also featured satirical cartoons from

Zapiro Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician ...

, Brandan and Gado.

Awards

2010: Adfocus Newsmaker of the year
2010: South African Blog Awards: Winner, Best South African Podcast Video Blog
2010: Bookmark Awards: Best Online Video, Best use of Video/Audio (incl. podcasts)
2010: Handspring Awards for Puppetry: Best Design
2011: DMMA Bookmark Awards: Silver Winner in Editorial (media- news, magazines, radio and TV stations/networks), Bronze Winner in Podcasts and Videocasts
2011: South African Blog Awards: Runner up in Best Political Category Awards
2012: Bookmark Awards: Best Editorial Team
2012: Bookmarks: Bronze in Core Award for Websites/Microsites/Mobisites – Specialist Publisher Sites
2012: Bookmarks: Bronze in Integrated/Mixed Media – Multi-platform Publisher
2012: Bookmarks: Silver Craft Award for Editorial
2013:

South African Film and Television Awards South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþ ...

: Best Ensemble in a TV Comedy
2013: SAFTAs: Best Editor of a TV Comedy
2013: SAFTAs: Best Art Direction of a TV Comedy
2014 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) – Best TV Comedy
2014 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) - Best Director in a TV Comedy
2014 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) – Best Writing Team in a TV Comedy
2015 Bookmark Awards: Gold in Core Award for Websites/Microsites/Mobisites – Specialist Publisher Sites
2015 Bookmark Awards: Best Editorial Team
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) - Best TV Comedy
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) - Best Achievement in Directing – TV Comedy
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Sound – TV Comedy
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Original Score -TV Comedy
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Art Design Production – TV Comedy
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Make-Up and Hair Styling – TV Comedy
2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Costume Design – TV Comedy In October 2015 it was announced that ''Puppet Nation ZA'' was a nominee for Best TV Comedy in the

43rd International Emmy Awards The 43rd International Emmy Awards took place on November 23, 2015, in New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. The award ceremony, presented by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS), honors all TV programming produced ...

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.zanews.co.za/, ZANEWS.co.za
BBC Radio4, ''South Africa Spits Back''
South African comedy television series South African television news shows South African television shows featuring puppetry News parodies Streaming television in South Africa