By Alec Hogg
Delighted to see US listicle site topteny.com rating South African Zapiro number two on its breakdown of the world’s best cartoonists. Any recognition for those in a country that calls its national baseball championship the World Series is to be appreciated.
But there is no doubt had Topteny used a broader jury, Zapiro would be on top of the list. After all, how many other cartoonists have had to fight a R5m lawsuit from the President of their country? Even if Zuma did throw in the towel three years after his well publicised response to Zapiro’s famous Rape of Lady Justice work.
That legal threat and regular grumblings from Nkandla hasn’t put Jonathan Shapiro off his game. Quite the contrary. He is as much a national treasure today as when he first started speaking truth to power back in 1987. Harassment and detainment by the Apartheid Regime simply sharpened his pen. Just like ‘ole showerhead’s attack did.
