Creator of the Jojo cartoon, Len Sak

BACK in 1983 a survey found him to be held with "affection, warmth, trust and love", a person who radiates "joy, fun and happiness" and someone who is seen as a friend to all. Even Nelson Mandela, on Robben Island at the time, looked forward to hearing about his latest adventures.

Who can this possibly be in the turbulent, violent 1980s in South Africa? Only one person qualifies - Jojo, the cartoon character in the Sowetan for 22 years, from 1981 when the Sowetan was born out of The Post. Before that Jojo appeared in The World, the Weekend World, the Post and The Sunday Post. His first appearance was in Drum of February 1959.

The character, almost unknown to whites, is a "good person, a nice person who is concerned about issues that affect people's lives", says Len Sak, Jojo's creator. Jojo has over the decades spoken out strongly on social issues, offering information and common sense. He's become a folk hero to blacks, saying smart things, encouraging, educating, giving advice on a range of issues: drunkenness, smoking, reckless driving, skin lighteners, HP agreements, and encouraging reading and studying.

Former editor of the Sowetan for 14 years, Aggrey Klaaste, describes Jojo as "somebody on whose shoulder you could cry, very lovable, very warm, very personable". In the 2001 foreword to one of three books of Jojo that were published, Klaaste says: "Jojo is a venerated part of the black community, if only because Len Sak has made him speak the language and live the lives of the people in the most extraordinary and engaging way."

Klaaste adds: "Jojo is loved because he has ubuntu and the typical African way of loving the old and the very young."

Jojo

Jojo has a set of loyal friends - Croesus, who drinks too much; Diamond, who has promised to knit him a jersey for the past 10 years; Lionel, a great salesman; Aunt Sel, the mean shebeen queen; Mr Radebe, the unsuccessful soccer referee; and Mr McBossy, Jojo's employer. Jojo is a tea-maker at McBossy Enterprises and has a cordial relationship with his boss, the two of them often discussing politics.

Repeated independent surveys into the late 1990s confirmed Jojo's continuing popularity. In 1994 he appeared on TV in 15 voter education programmes. And over the years, Sak has been approached by a number of publishing and advertising companies with a view to using him in various educational and other projects. He's also been used by Eskom, Operation Hunger, the Cancer Association, the National Road Safety Council, the Mental Health Association, and Shell's Paraffin Safety Programme, among others, to get across particular messages.

Jojo's got an oval, egg-shaped head with a pompom of curly hair balancing on top of his head, with small round ears, a round ball of a nose, a rotund body in a white shirt, balanced on very thin legs in black trousers and braces, and he invariably has a smile on his face. That face, says Sak, "allows for lots of emotion".

Jojo cartoon

Jojo, with an eternally youthful look, came about when owner Jim Bailey and editor Tom Hopkinson of Drum magazine, asked Sak to create a cartoon character, back in 1959. And Sak was the right guy for the job - he knew from the age of 11 that he wanted to be a cartoonist, he says.

I visit him in his Illovo flat and as I enter the lounge, he says: "I meant to do two things before you came: have a haircut and tidy this room." It's a creative space - there's a black leather lounge suite, several cane chairs, a desk and a dining room table with six chairs. All except the leather couch and chair are stacked with papers, and two bookcases are crammed with shelves of horizontal books and papers. I take the chair, he takes the couch. I don't know what difference a haircut would have made, this being the first time we meet.

I wonder if the numerous fans of Jojo would have guessed that this is his creator.

"There's a lot of me in Jojo," he says.

Now what does that mean, exactly? It means that Sak, like Jojo, is also a "good person" - a caring, compassionate, gracious man, a gentle soul. He is of average height, with thinning, grey hair and kindly brown eyes. He's slim and trim, doesn't smoke, hardly drinks, eats lots of fish, soya and salad, and does a half-hour workout on his exercise bike each day.

"This is my fourth exercise bike," he says, "My son and I have worked our way through three bikes." He now has a fancy "spinning" bike, strong and sturdy looking.

So how did his creator develop his character? "I wondered what I would say and do and think if I were a black South African living in those times, in 1959."

He shows me the first prototype of Jojo. He was more of a grown-up man, with quite a menacing look about him, almost a gangster. But, like all cartoon characters, he evolved and crystallised into what he is today around 15 years ago, in 1985.

The name Jojo is a good one, Sak feels, because it has a familiarity about it, it says: "I know you well." Probably his fans would agree.

Jojo has now retired from the Sowetan (since June this year), but that doesn't mean that Jojo will disappear forever. He still has very strong educational value, and Sak is getting more involved in "edutainment" with his cartooning.

Nowadays he's freelancing, and is pretty busy. He's producing educational comic features, posters and illustrations for a variety of publishers, educational authorities and NGOs, in addition to his ongoing involvement with Jojo. His work has always included a wide range of cartoon styles and illustration projects, appearing in a broad cross-section of South African media. He says he is "learning all the time" and that "there's a real need for the sort of thing I can do".

And at 72 he's very far from thinking of retirement. He says: "I can't retire, what will I do?" Thankfully, his skills are still very much in demand.

Sak was born in Port Elizabeth, and it's obviously still a place he remembers with affection. He has several photographs and drawings of the city on his wall.

He moved to Johannesburg when he was 20, after trying what his father wanted him to do: a degree at Rhodes. He got involved in doing illustrations for the Rhodes student magazine, The Rhodeo. He also got involved in playing the clarinet, formed a trio and played and sang at dances. He stopped going to lectures and eventually dropped out, getting 11 credits but never finishing the BCom degree.

Does he still play the clarinet? "No, I haven't played it for 40 years." But he still sings . . . in his flat, in his crooning voice. "I used to sing Nat King Cole numbers like Sweet Lorraine."

Any regrets in this regard? "A little, I could have done more musically, and probably have been quite a successful singer. I had ability with the clarinet, although I just played by ear."

He admits that growing up he was always a solitary child - his brother was more extrovert and "involved in escapades". Sak "lived in his imagination" but at the same time he "wanted to extend myself to a wider audience".

And a big part of that boyhood was spent enjoying cartoons: Bob Connolly and Punch. And British comics: Knockout, Beano and Dandy. The Prince Valiant strips in the Sunday Express reached Port Elizabeth on Mondays and were eagerly awaited. There was Flash Gordon, Moon Mullins, Smitty, and the Disney characters, which "were okay".

"It was a rich world of imagery, especially the English comics. It helped me make up my mind as to what I wanted to do."

Sak says that over the years he's had various business offers, which he invariably turned down. He regrets the lack of a business partner, who would have given him the kind of expert advice that he needed. He is about to correct that.

Sak has plans to get Jojo dreaming and travelling in his dreams where he will go into the past and meet Phillip Tobias, Raymond Dart, Mrs Ples and others, and teach youngsters inadvertently about history.

And although Jojo is taking a break from the Sowetan (he's taken breaks previously, with floods of letters requesting his return), Sak stresses that he's been well-treated by editors at the Sowetan over the years.

"At one point I lived in England and used to fax the cartoon from there. The first time the editor saw that day's cartoon was in the paper. This policy continued almost to the end." A very trusting attitude, because in the 70s the paper and its cartoons were being carefully monitored by the apartheid security police. Sak also did the political cartoons for many years.

Sak concludes the interview with a simple sentence: "I have chosen the right area to work in - it's consistent with my feelings and beliefs." He politely sees me out his flat.

Related stories:

• People of the City