Stationary pictures – the remarkable life of Dov Fedler

HOWARD SACKSTEIN

And that answer sums up the life and retirement of The Star newspaper’s cartoonist: Fedler is not quite sure who he is anymore.

“I saw it coming,” says Fedler, “I had been at The Star for 50 years and in 1969 I became their political cartoonist. It’s strange, I’m not political and I never wanted to be a political cartoonist.”

But over nearly half a century, Fedler documented the rise and fall of South African politics with an acerbic wit and artistic genius.

“Cartoons are dog-piss on the doorstep to history. The cartoonist doesn’t even make it to the door, we document and comment, but we don’t change anything,” he said. “You need to be careful, though, when you play on the railway track, don’t complain when you get hit by the train.”

And so, after 50 years on the tracks, the train began rumbling towards Fedler himself. “The age of independent journalism is gone. Today newspapers are there to sell not report.

The Star has always treated me royally. Japhet Ngube, the new editor was unhappy to lose me but the old guard, both black and white, were being cleaned out. With the Cape Times, it was resign or get fired.” By the end of February this year, Fedler was retired.

“Freedom of speech belongs to those people who don’t depend on a salary, I wasn’t that lucky,” he says with no malice.

Over the years, he has built up an archive of more than 3 000 political cartoon, which would probably be one of the most historic pieces of South African history still in private hands.

“I think I’m ready to sell, says Fedler, “but it has to land up in the right hands – these are drawings of the most significant moments in our country’s history.”

Suddenly, after so many years of chasing the clock on getting his cartoons in on time, he says: “I complained about deadlines my entire life, but as soon as they were gone, I felt a profound sense of loss.

“My first memoire, ‘Out of Line’ published in 2015, was a huge critical success, I’ve decided to write a follow-up.”

The Lubavitcher Rebbe told Fedler in 1979 to finish his book and that’s exactly what Dov intends to do. “I met the Rebbe in the days when I thought you could find G-d under a hat,” says Fedler as a homage to Oliver Sacks’ “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”.

His first autobiography starts with the words: “You will be a dentist” and explains how Fedler’s father thought that dentistry anointed you with the title “doctor” but you won’t be called out at night. His eureka moment came to him in the shower as he ran naked and wet to transcribe the first line of the book, just as Archimedes had done from his bath.

Today a relaxed Fedler does a lot of corporate work, drawing mainly creative caricatures for businesses. “It’s fun work, it’s iconic and it allows people to walk away with something tangible as a gift.”

But there are many moments or cartoons that will always remind the nation of Fedler. He sees his crowning cartoon glory as being his iconic farewell to Madiba. The poignant cartoon captured, in its ghostly seagull face of Mandela, the heart-wrenching emotion of the nation’s grief.

Last year, he was criticized for his cartoon that depicted Wayde van Niekerk alongside Oscar in his cell. People misinterpreted his intention, claiming he was predicting the self-demise of South Africa’s new Olympic running superstar.

“That’s not what I intended, the contrast was to show how Oscar had the world at his feet, yet threw it all away compared to Wayde’s meteoric rise to success,” he said. “But I understand why it was misinterpreted, and it is my fault, I just I didn’t give a thought to the way some people might misread it.”

Fedler and his wife Dr Dorrine Cumes, have three very successful daughters, Carolyn, Joanne and Laura.

When Fedler’s oldest daughter Carolyn was born, Dov and his wife were told that she was “brain damaged”. Later they discovered that Carolyn was hard of hearing. Today that “brain damaged” child has a BSc, a medical degree, a master in medicine and is an accomplished pathologist.

His second daughter Joanne has been one of the most successful South African writers in modern history. She has sold more than 600 000 books in Germany alone. The youngest Fedler daughter, Laura, is also at the top of her game in marketing research. 

Fedler contemplates his pencils, saying: “It’s hard not to be a political cartoonist anymore in the age of Trump, succession battles, SASSA, and PRASA, there is just so much material. But you have to show some humility and that’s what we’ve learned from our children.”

Dov Fedler was the recipient of the Arts, Sports, Science & Culture Award at the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards 2015.