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Daniel Cornelis Boonzaier

Daniel Cornelis Boonzaier (1865 - 1950) was a South African caricaturist and political cartoonist, art-lover and collector. He was the son of Willem Daniël Carel Boonzaaier (sic) and Yda Meltina Anna de Waal. Although Boonzaier never took part in formal politics, he took a lively interest in political life and 'always supported the Afrikanders' (De Kock 1968: 94). When the 'pro-Boer' South African News was revived in Cape Town after the South African War, Boonzaier became its political cartoonist and a member of its permanent staff from 1903 to 1907. Schreiner's only extant letter to Boonzaier was written in a response to his request to sketch her, presumably for the South African News. In this letter, Schreiner refuses the request, and also writes that she hopes he will eventually 'see the question of women's emancipation' from her point of view, a comment interestingly compared with an assessment in the Dictionary of South African Biography which suggests that 'He chose his friends with care; he had, as a rule, little patience with young people or women, because in his opinion they were intellectually immature or superficial and affected in matters concerning art.' (Scholtz 1968: 95-96).

For further information see:
J. du P. Scholtz (1968) 'Boonzaier, Daniel Cornelis' in (ed) W.J. de Kock Dictionary of South African Biography  Vol I Pretoria: National Council for Social Research, pp. 93 - 96
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