A picture on Namate’s Facebook page, taken in 1999, shows him at his Daily News desk drawing a cartoon. In April 2000 a homemade bomb was thrown at the paper’s office, and in 2001 a series of bombs were planted in the building, blowing up the printing press. In 2003 the paper, known for its critical views on President Robert Mugabe, was denied a permit and subsequently shut down.
Tony was threatened, harassed and forced to leave several cartooning positions by high ranking administration officials. He and many of his newspaper colleagues however continued to defy excessive government censorship regulations.