Profile: Cartoonist and master-doodler Gavin enjoys the challenges that the new South Africa has to offer. He cherishes the variety that drives this country, and has cemented the wry social humour of South Africans into an entertaining cartoon strip featured in The Citizen.

By: Deni Brown and Gavin Thomson 

Gavin Thomson's Homecoming Story

"South Africa is like the old wild west: dangerous yes, but exciting. You can come out here, buy a piece of land, build your own home and those who survive and succeed, will prosper. It's not for the faint hearted, it's the land of the brave bru."

These were the words, or to that effect that a friend of mine said to me in a chance meeting on Houtbay beach on one of my trips back here in the mid 90's. He had just moved back, having lived in France for a number of years, and bought a plot of land on the mountain side in Noordhoek. It was this kind of thing, and the passion I encountered in South Africans over and over in the 90's that led me to quit my job in London and come home after eight years, bringing my English wife and stepson.

People here were making plans, scheming schemes, starting businesses, they weren't just standing still and letting life happen to them, they were taking the bull by the horns, they were LIVING IT! I wanted some of that energy to rub off on me. Sure it's tough, sometimes it feels like the odds are all against you, but that makes success even more sweet. 

My family and I have now been back in South Africa almost as long as I lived in the UK. I have been blessed with two more beautiful ‘new South African’ children, who I look forward to watching grow up in a new South Africa - the land of the brave but also the land of the free. Funnily enough, I now work for myself and every day I wake up in a country full of wonder and opportunities and exciting new challenges, not to mention big blue sky, mountains and sea... in the words of Robin Auld, "but when all is said and done, an African’s got to have some sun." God bless africa
Check out the Mama Taxi gallery here .

Gavin and Deni Brown produce an entertaining cartoon strip story called Mama taxi, offering some light comic relief to those desperately missing the peculiarities that make South Africa so funny.  They also produce a few other cartoons - Treknet which is on News24 every day, weekly in the People's Post, The Son and Die Kaapse Son, the PE Herald and The Big Issue.  Their newest strip is Terminal - look out for them.

If ever anyone had the right to feel downright Proudly South African, it's Mama Taxi. Quiet and conservative Mavis, together with her spunky streetwise sister Zandi, has astounded not only her sceptical husband, but anyone who has ever had any kind of taxi experience, by driving her B.E.E. initiative to success. Her adventures and wry social comments about life on the terrifying roads of Jozi are catalogued by backseat passengers Deni Brown and Gavin Thomson (himself a happy home-comer, having spent eight years in London), who actually do the driving, and the taxi has just found a daily parking spot on the pages of the Citizen newspaper.

Deni Brown has been writing since she learned to spell, and in her teens compiled a book of short romantic tales. Her short stories and articles have been published in women’s magazines and she has self-published a book of illustrated cartoons featuring Puddha the Enlightened Cat. These cartoons also appeared in a community newspaper and several magazines. Deni is currently editing her book about the adventures of a zany fairy call Titanium, working on another Puddha collection, and writes the comic strip Mama Taxi with Gavin Thomson.

Gavin Thomson, a reborn South African himself (UK 1990-1997) started drawing as soon as he could hold a pencil, and has doodled on almost every surface known to man (and woman!) He does a weekly editorial cartoon for The (Fish Hoek) Peoples’ Post newspaper and is the co-creator of Trek-Net, a weekly cartoon strip in the same paper, featuring two hapless fishermen. He has produced illustrations for various clients including Disney and Warner Bros and his artwork is published both locally and internationally. He currently spends his time developing cartoon strips and illustrating children's books.