The World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to Twitter to express himself after a racist cartoon depicting South Africans carrying the Omicron variant to Europe made headlines.
The cartoon, which was printed on November 28, caricatures brown coloured viruses crammed in a boat with the South African flag heading for Europe.
Ghebreyesus addressed this matter by saying:
“It pains me that shows of racism like this still plague the challenges facing the world today.
“Caricaturing people crammed in a boat bringing a virus to Europe is disgusting.
“We can only advance, as one Earth globe Europe-Africa community, by promoting solidarity, not stigma.”
It pains me that shows of racism like this still plague the challenges facing the world today.
Caricaturing people crammed in a boat bringing a virus to Europe is disgusting.
We can only advance, as one ? community, by promoting solidarity, not stigma. https://t.co/FtZIJKaIQ4— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 6, 2021
Mmusi Maimane also took to Twitter to express his outrage:
“This is nonsense. A virus that most likely came to Africa from Europe is being depicted as black and South African. The omicron response from the international community has exposed deep seated anti Africa sentiment that must be addressed,” he said.
This is nonsense.
A virus that most likely came to Africa from Europe is being depicted as black and South African.
The omicron response from the international community has exposed deep seated anti Africa sentiment that must be addressed. pic.twitter.com/CDILnclEfG
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) December 5, 2021
According to The Citizen, the newspaper La Tribuna de Albacete and Javi Salado said they wanted to apologise to readers who may have felt offended by the cartoon.
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Picture: Twitter / La Tribuna print