The Zingari was an early weekly newspaper of the Cape Colony, which printed in Cape Town from 1870 until 1875. It was a low-brow, semi-humorous paper that never attained a wide circulation, but was notable for featuring some of the first satirical cartoons in southern Africa. It was also an overtly pro-imperialist publication, appealing to the right-wing of the political spectrum of the time.
The Zingari was founded by Charles Cowen, who was to be the newspaper's editor for the duration of its publication. The first run was beset with technical problems, and only 300 copies were printed. Cowen therefore approached the large and established printing house of Saul Solomon, the owner of the mainstream Cape Argus newspaper. Solomon permitted the use of his printing house though, as a liberal MP himself, he was often the main figure attacked by the Zingari in its sketches and columns.
The name, "Zingari", is a dialectal Italian word meaning "Gypsies", but in its sketches the paper always represented itself with the character of a medieval jester.
The Zingari took a strongly reactionary, pro-imperialist stance, in opposition to the mainstream newspapers such as the Cape Argus and The South African Commercial Advertiser (which both tended to favour local self-government and an expansion of the multi-racial Cape Qualified Franchise).
It was one of the few publications which opposed the movement for "Responsible Government" (locally elected democracy) which it accused of being "crafts and assaults of the devil" which would bring about a "great conflagration". [1] When the movement's leader came to power in 1872, the Zingari became one of the most extreme voices of opposition against the local government, and in favour of a stronger British imperial presence in southern Africa. [2]
The Zingari was notable for featuring some of the earliest examples of political cartoons in southern Africa. Its first few editions were illustrated with sketches by CJM Smith and William McGill, but McGill's young student, William Howard Schröder, took over as cartoonist in 1871. [3]
Under Cowen's direction, Schröder also initiated a portrait gallery of the influential figures of the country at the time. Each edition featured a portrait and biography at the back, beginning in June 1871 with the leader of the House of Assembly John Molteno. [4]
John Xavier Merriman was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
The Cape Argus is a daily newspaper co-founded in 1857 by Saul Solomon and published by Sekunjalo in Cape Town, South Africa. It is commonly referred to as The Argus.
Sir John Gordon Sprigg, was an English-born colonial administrator, politician and four-time prime minister of the Cape Colony.
Sir John Charles Molteno was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.
Sir Simeon Jacobs C.M.G. was a Judge in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope. He served as Attorney-General and was the MP for Queenstown.
Saul Solomon was an influential liberal politician of the Cape Colony, a British colony in what is now South Africa. Solomon was an important member of the movement for responsible government and an opponent of Lord Carnarvon's Confederation scheme.
John ("Jock") Paterson was a prominent politician and successful businessman of the Cape Colony, and had a great influence on the development of Port Elizabeth where he was based. He ran newspapers, established the Grey Institute and played a significant role in founding South Africa's Standard Bank.
William Howard Schröder 'Willie', was a South African artist, cartoonist and publisher.
John Charles Molteno Jr. M.L.A., was a South African exporter and Member of Parliament.
Frederick Schermbrucker (1832–1904) was a soldier and an influential parliamentarian of the Cape Colony. He was a strong pro-imperialist, one of the foremost supporters of Cecil Rhodes and an early leader of the Progressive Party of the Cape.
The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope functioned as the legislature of the Cape Colony, from its founding in 1853, until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it was dissolved and the Parliament of South Africa was established. It consisted of the House of Assembly and the legislative council.
Robert Godlonton (1794–1884) was an influential politician of the Cape Colony. He was an 1820 Settler, who developed the press of the Eastern Cape and led the Eastern Cape separatist movement as a representative in the Cape's Legislative Council.
The South African Commercial Advertiser was South Africa's first independent newspaper and started publication in Cape Town on 7 January 1824. It was banned between 5 May 1824 and 31 August 1825, and between 10 March 1827 and 3 October 1828, by order of the Governor at the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset.
The Lantern was a weekly newspaper published in the Cape Colony between 1877 and c. 1889. Featuring a populist and pro-imperial slant, The Lantern was one of the first South African newspapers to publish political cartoons. For the duration of the paper's existence, it remained dwarfed in popularity by more well-established papers such as the Cape Argus and The Times.
The Observer of South African Affairs was a Port Elizabeth based newspaper of the Cape Colony, that was published from 6 July 1876. In the 1880s it underwent a series of name changes, to the Port Elizabeth Spectator, and the Spectator and Evening Mail.
Francis Reginald Statham (1844–1908) was a writer, composer and newspaper editor of Great Britain and southern Africa. He was notable for his radical anti-imperialist writings and for the controversy that was attached to him throughout his life. The Bishop and political leader John Colenso famously summed him up as "a keen knife, liable to shut upon the hand that used it, and therefore to be used with caution".
Richard William ("RW") Murray Snr. (1819-1908) was a journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor and politician of the Cape Colony.
Patrick McLoughlin was an influential newspaper editor of the British Cape Colony, in what is now South Africa.
Francis Joseph Dormer was an influential journalist and newspaper editor in southern Africa.
The Eastern Province Separatist League was a loose political movement of the 19th century Cape Colony. It fought not for independence, but for a separate colony in the eastern half of the Cape Colony independent from the Cape government, with a more restrictive political system and an expansionist policy eastwards against the remaining independent Xhosa states. It was crushed in the 1870s, and many of its members later moved to the new pro-imperialist, Rhodesian “progressive party”.