Baboon joke bites Dube
2003-02-10 14:02
Johannesburg - TV funnyman Desmond Dube is expected to apologise to Shangaans on Monday for comparing them to baboons during his popular Dube on Monday comedy show on SABC2.
Dube's off-the-cuff comments two weeks ago unleashed an avalanche of outrage from XiTsonga speakers across South Africa, who accused Dube of creating ethnic hatred.
Complainants, ranging from ordinary Limpopo villagers to high-profile intellectuals, insist that Shangaans have been persecuted for generations and that Dube's comments were inviting a return to ethnic warfare.
"Desmond has opened old wounds. People used to think Shangaans were stupid. My son has already been taunted about this [joke] at school, and I fear that he will grow to hate other tribes," explained Percy Hlabathi in a complaint to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
Xitsonga Language Board chairman Mandla Mathebula has joined the fray, saying he intended lodging his own formal complaint with the authorities.
"Any comparison between Shangaans and baboons, especially where you imply baboons are better than Shangaans, is downright nasty. Dube can't get away with this insult to an entire tribe, just because he's a comedian," said Mathebula.
Freedom of expression
Legendary funnyman Pieter Dirk Uys, who mercilessly lampooned apartheid leaders while cross-dressed as Evita Bezuidenhout, said that humour was an essential tool of social commentary, however.
"Desmond Dube is one of a long line of comedians who've used the word 'baboon' to describe targets - in his case an ethnic minority, and in my case Afrikaners, for example the AWB, or even the people serving George Bush, and maybe even Mugabe's henchmen or those who served Hitler," said Uys.
"I've always said: politicians are like baboons - the higher they climb the pole of ambition, the more of their 'arses' we can see! Viva freedom of expression!"
Not everyone appreciates Dube or even Uys' humour though.
Broadcasting Complaints Commission registrar Shouneeze Martin confirmed that matter had formally been taken up with the SABC.
Dube himself, apparently overwhelmed by the number and passion of the complaints, finally backed down and promised an unreserved apology. - African Eye News Service