Nanda Soobben launches 'Shut Your Pothole': A collection of powerful cartoons

Award winning cartoonist and animator, Nanda Soobben, will be launching his third book, a collection of some of his famous cartoons.

The book titled, "Shut Your Pothole", consists of 140 cartoons which were done over more than three decades.

"Shut Your Pothole" will be launched on Saturday at the Glenwood Book Fair which is taking place at the Phansi Museum in Glenwood.

said the title was very relevant because "everywhere we go we hit a pothole".

"This book has a mixture of paintings, cartoons and some with just words which were powerful and didn't need a drawing like the one about Eskom, which says, "We sold the sun to buy a candle".

"Then there are paintings like the water colour of the late Minister Pravin Gordhan when he passed away. Also a painting of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela," said Soobben.

He said over the last 35 years he did over 3000 cartoons.

"The cartoons cover apartheid, democracy, and corruption. There are also international cartoons that affect us, like those of Donald Trump. It was a tough task selecting 140. I have a lot of Donald Trump but I didn't want him to dominate my book," said Soobben.

In Prof Ashwin Desai's foreword in the book, "Shut Your Pothole", he wrote: "In a brilliant series of cartoons, he exposes the Lie of the Land, the Pie in the Sky and the Shit in the Ocean. Through all this he makes us laugh and hang between what Lauren Berlant calls 'Cruel Optimism' and John Beger labels 'undefeated despair'.

"Nanda's life epitomises this. He arrived on the scene in a world dominated by white cartoonists who were doing gag cartoons without tackling the serious issues. He was mocked for not being funny. But Nanda kept us laughing because of the clever ironies of stupidity he was pointing out through his cartoons which were on another level," wrote Desai, a sociology professor and writer.

Soobben's first book of cartoons titled The Wizard of HOD, was about the late Minority Front leader Amichand Rajbansi and cartoons on apartheid. The second book Witness to a Decade focused on 10 years of democracy with the cover depicting former president Nelson Mandela knitting a rainbow.

“The Wizard of HOD" has become a collector's item and forms part of the African Library Collection of the Smithsonian Institute Museum in Washington.

"I hope Donald Trump doesn't throw it out," said Soobben.

He said a local librarian in Orient Park near Isipingo had refused to take The Wizard of HOD saying they only take professional books, which were books published by whites only.

Over the years Soobben has illustrated everybody who is anybody.

Soobben's cartoons have featured on clothing, canvas prints and mugs that were merchandised in New York.

Soobben will be releasing his autobiography later about his life as an artist, cartoonist and activist in South Africa, Brazil and America. That book is titled Trotters and Beans and Talking Tripe.

"Shut Your Pothole" will be available from Made in Durban, Amazon and Exclusive Books.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE