The show was a daily and weekly satirical news programme in the form of a mock puppet television newscast and was available on both the web and on TV.

For nine seasons, ZANEWS had been using its puppet cast as mouthpieces for satirical commentary on South Africa's public space.

[1] Inspired by the cult British television series Spitting Image along with the French equivalent, Les Guignols,[2] ZANEWS has been aired on the web and TV since 2009 on a range of media platforms, the most prolific of these being the show's online presence.

[4] In 2014, an American TV pilot was produced by the team under the leadership of Thierry Cassuto, featuring the puppets of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and many other US politicians and celebrities [5] In September 2016 it was announced that Puppet Nation ZA was a nominee for Best TV Comedy in the 44th International Emmy Awards.

'[8] The storylines of Season 1 to 8 have developed along the lines of current news stories and events, with more characters being added to the show’s lineup.

ZANEWS is produced South Africa with puppet caricatures of mostly local politicians, celebrities and the everyman, bringing audiences a mix of the latest and most current events, parodying the formulaic style of media broadcasting.

hey also launched a bigger website, ‘ZANEWS Network’, meant to be the online portal for quality South African satire.

The site hosts their weekly episodes and daily videos shows as well as the best satirical columns, fake news, cartoons and user-generated content.

Puppet Nation is structured as a 30-minute news show and the turnaround time from script to online / televised broadcast is three working days, which means ZANEWS is able to produce a weekly news show that is extremely current, with close to 80 puppet caricatures of local and international celebrities.

The characters consist predominantly of South African politicians with a growing number of international celebrities and sports personalities joining the ranks each year, namely individuals that would be likely to feature in the general news, the show is therefore structured as such.

Most striking of these episodes were those of Premier of the Western Cape and official opposition leader Helen Zille[15] and, at the other end of the political spectrum, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)’s General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who interacted with their puppet counterparts.

[6] News anchor Tim Modise, radio DJ Gareth Cliff, sportsman Pieter de Villiers and comedians Riaad Moosa, Marc Lottering and Nik Rabinowitz also featured on the show.

[17] The government of Zimbabwe banned Freshlyground over the music video because it portrays its president Robert Mugabe as a chicken afraid to relinquish power.

The site became more interactive, with visitors being able to sign up as 'Bloody Agents' and featuring columns from 'Agent Provocateurs' such as Andrew Donaldson, Chester Missing, Ndumiso Ngcobo, Marianne Thamm, Ben Trovato and Political Agony Aunt Zama Ndlovu.

2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Art Design Production – TV Comedy

2015 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) -Best Achievement in Make-Up and Hair Styling – TV Comedy