The Chronicle should minimise harm - Readers

The cartoon that is steering anger

The Chronicle should be cautious of using cartoons that cause harm, readers have said.

Readers who exclusively spoke to this blog expressed their disgruntlement over a cartoon (pictured left) that the Chronicle published in its issue of the 19th of April 2014. The cartoon featured a razor wire and cartoons of two men and a lady with a baby strapped on her back and from the drawing they were trying to cross into neighbouring South Africa.

The cartoon was accompanied by an inscription from the cartooned spectator which read "why do they call them border jumpers when they actually cross under a fence".

"This cartoon is a direct insult to those who cross the border into South Africa, running away from the unfavourable economic conditions in this country that for long no one has fixed," said Andrew Chadya, a regular Chronicle reader.

Mr Chadya emphasized that such cartoons are very offensive to a society which is grieving over the loss of beloved ones who die on their way to South Africa in search of greener pastures after the country has failed to offer jobs.

"It makes these people appear as if they are silly by so doing. The cartoon is trivializing the pain that these people go through. I would say that it has been misplaced," said Chadya. The cartoon comes barely two months after more than 20 Zimbabweans lost their lives in a disused mineshaft in South Africa during their attempts to make fortunes (see 22 Zimbabweans who died in South Africa mine named).

Another reader who declined to be named however said the that was just a "joke". According to journalism ethics, to minimise harm is to desist from publishing information that is likely to offend or put someone into false light.