T. O. Honiball

Who was T. O. Honiball?

Thomas Ochse Honiball was a well known South African cartoon artist.

T.O. Honiball was born on 7 December 1905 in Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Honiball attended the well known high school for boys in Stellenbosch, Paul Roos Gymnasium. He originally studied architecture at the University of Cape Town. However, he needed a less structured way to express his artistic capabilities and from 1927 to 1930 he lived in Chicago where he studied commercial art. During this period he was introduced to American cartoons.

On his return to Cape Town he worked in advertising and later as freelance caricaturist and cartoonist. In 1941 he became the political cartoonist for a major Afrikaans newspaper group, and quickly became one of the best known South African cartoon artists.

In addition to his political cartoons he also published the Oom Kaspaas series, wherein Uncle Kaspaas boasts about his colorful past to his "nephew" Nefie - always to be reminded by some unfortunate event of what had really happened.