The centrespread in the first, and possibly last, issue of Elliot Josephs’s magazine Hei Voetsek! is of what some may see as “a typical Cape Flats male” — reclining on a couch in his underwear reading a pornographic magazine, his toothless face wreathed with smoke, a glass clutched in one hand and a flagon of cheap wine, half-empty, stands on a table in front of him.
While such an image might bring a giggle to the middle classes, the caricature is accompanied by a warning of the dangers of smoking and drinking. Josephs, aka Zebulon Dread, uses every page of his 48-page magazine to verbally flog the media industry, politicians, criminals and his fellow citizens of Cape Town.
An author, poet and screenplay writer, Josephs believes writers should not be dependent on bookshops to market their work. Instead, they should become involved in all the aspects of their creation, including marketing their works.
Josephs not only marketed Hei Voetsek himself, but also used the magazine to advertise the books he has written. The selection of books include: The Caucasian Black Circle (The Chronicles of a White Pussy Hunter), Talks With the Monkey God, Hello Afrika Tell Me How You Do It and The Blackheart Poet.
The editorial of his first magazine sets out in no uncertain terms what Josephs thinks of existing South African magazines. He uses the title of his publication to say voetsek to a wide range of glossy magazines.
Although voiced in the crudest Cape Flats taal, a mixture of English and Afrikaans with generous dollops of slang interspersed, Josephs’s editorial heaps scorn on his public for allowing “media mogul turds to plug their brains”, Capetonians for voting for “that party of evil sinners”, gangsters driving minibus taxis and “darkies with a chip on their shoulders”.
“This magazine is just to say we’re out there and we don’t buy your shit. It’s freedom of expression and the means by which a long-suffering artist becomes an entrepreneur, taking destiny into his own hands and out of the devious honkies who so love control,” he wrote.
Josephs says his magazine is not only meant as a marketing tool, but also to “waken the consciousness” of the Cape Town community. Most of the articles deal with social and political issues. He is determined not to allow the setback with the first edition of Hei Voetsek to stop his ambitions to start a publishing empire which he has named Frontline Incorporated.