Zapiro

Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions.

He is the nephew of British magician David Berglas and cousin to Marvin Berglas, director of Marvin's Magic.

Jonathan was born into a Jewish family in Cape Town, South Africa to Gershon and Gaby Shapiro.

He studied architecture at the University of Cape Town but found it unsatisfying and moved to the art campus, Michaelis.

Shortly after this he was conscripted into the army for two years, where he refused to carry arms.

In 1983 he became active in the newly formed anti-Apartheid movement, the United Democratic Front and as a result was arrested under the Illegal Gatherings Act and, subsequently, monitored by military intelligence.

Zapiro was an important participant in South Africa's End Conscription Campaign, designing its logo.

After his military service he applied for and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York for two years.

The name Zapiro was derived from the nickname of a fellow pupil at Rondebosch Boys' High School, Martin Szapiro, whose friends called him Zap.

After Martin's death in a mountaineering accident, Zapiro chose this name.

The first Zapiro character was a character named Preppy, whose main characteristic was his fringe, and who commented on issues that went on around school.

Shapiro started out as the editorial cartoonist of South in 1987.

Zapiro had started out as the editorial cartoonist for South newspaper in 1987, and after his stint in New York, he was the editorial cartoonist for the Sowetan from 1994 to 2005.

In 1988 Jonathan was detained shortly before leaving on a Fulbright Scholarship to study media arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

There he studied under the comics masters Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman.

He has been the editorial cartoonist for the Mail & Guardian since 1994, the Sunday Times since 1998 and since September 2005 he has appeared three times a week in the Cape Times, the Star, the Mercury and the Pretoria News.

His cartoons appeared in the Cape Argus from 1996 to 1997.

Shapiro became the first cartoonist to win a category prize in the CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards in 2001, and was awarded the Mondi Newspaper Award for Graphic Journalism in both 2003 and 2004.

That same year he was made an Honorary Doctor of Literature by the University of Transkei.

In 2003 he was Africa's only representative amongst cartoonists invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and he attended the forum again in 2004–2006.

In 2003, members of the Faith and Politics Institute, an American organisation, lodged complaints against three of the cartoons at an exhibition for visiting American congressional representatives as well as members of the institute.

The cartoons in question depicted former American president Bill Clinton and US policies of "trade and not aid", and President George W. Bush with a raised middle finger in a comment on American unilateralism and Bush's stance on the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

In 2005 Shapiro won the Principal Prince Claus Award.

He has held solo cartoon exhibitions in New York, London and Frankfurt and many in South Africa, and has also exhibited in numerous group shows locally and internationally.

In 2006, former Deputy President of South Africa Jacob Zuma furthered his claim of being "tried by the media" and threatened to bring defamation action against various elements of the press for remarks that he alleged were defamatory.

Approximately R15 million of the R63 million rand demanded by his legal representatives were in connection with Zapiro cartoons.

In 2007, he received the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award at the annual Cartoonists Rights Network International dinner, capping the 50th Anniversary Convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

At the South African Cartoonists Awards in 2008 he won the Best Humorist Cartoon award.

In 2008, Zapiro met with further animosity, this time from the South African ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) over a cartoon that appeared in the Sunday Times on 7 September 2008.

The cartoon depicted a scene where the ANC president's (Jacob Zuma) staunchest supporters (ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, secretary general of the ANC – Gwede Mantashe, SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande and Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi) were holding down Lady Justice, with Zuma in a state of undress getting ready to rape Lady Justice.

Mantashe, who was shown in the cartoon with a speech bubble containing "Go for it, boss", labelled the cartoon "racist", while ANC spokesperson Jesse Duarte said the cartoon was "vile, crude and disgusting".

Zapiro's caricatures also appear in the form of puppets on the satirical television and web show ZANEWS, a Spitting Image type of programme he helped launch in 2009 alongside producer Thierry Cassuto.

Zapiro has published 29 annual cartoon collections:

In 2009, the Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded Zapiro its MISA Press Freedom Award for his two decades of humour and satire in South Africa.

His exhibition "Jiving with Madiba" was held at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town from 14 July to 27 November 2011.

He has been an invited participant in cartoon events in Cameroon, Botswana, Australia, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.

He was awarded the Freedom to Publish Prize by the International Publishers Association in 2012.

Since 2017, Zapiro has been the editorial cartoonist for the publication, Daily Maverick.

In 2019, He was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres one of France's highest cultural honours.

He was also ranked by Jeune Afrique magazine as one of the 50 most influential personalities on the African continent.