The Freedom Eaters

IN A STARK CONTRAST to the previous Freedom Day cartoon by Gavin Thomson, Jerm (Jeremy Nell) delivers a cartoon which - in spite of its fun appearance - is all at once sceptical, cynical and pessimistic (sadly, often necessary ingredients for an editorial cartoon).

Employing a highly original perspective from the inside of a ballot box during South Africa's inaugural democratic elections, Jerm projects the monsters that would 16 years down the line threaten to devour the freedoms voted for on that day.

Jeremy talks us through the process of creating this cartoon: He initially wanted to have Nelson Mandela's hand casting the vote to better contrast the positive sentiments of the 1994 elections with the future that awaited the democracy. He also planned to headline the cartoon with the words "Not what he voted for". But ultimately Jeremy realised that there was already too much detail in the cartoon with all the labeled monsters and so dropped the title, and alluded to Mandela subtly by showing the vote to be the first in the box - realising it was a detail not essential to the cartoon.