Drawing conclusions on Zapiro’s latest collection

That could very easily become a burden: it feels as though Shapiro is being held responsible to comment on any important occurrence; not having an opinion is simply not an option.

“For me, it’s never been an issue,” says Shapiro.

“I do have opinions about things and they can shift. My general politics or set of opinions is pretty consistent over a long period, but you can change your mind on a certain topic and don’t have to eat humble pie. You’re learning as you go along.”

People often want someone to suggest the direction they should take and will sometimes skip processing a subject themselves because they trust a certain viewpoint, rightly or wrongly.

“I’ve always said that cartoons are about communication and advocacy, as well as being about humour and making people laugh,” says Shapiro. “The reason we use humour so much is that things that are funny make you think about them in different ways. There’s a shift: you’re set up to see something in a certain way and then it’s changed and you’re given a new perspective. Comedians do that; speech writers do that…”

Political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, works at his home in Cape Town. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

Putting together a collection every year exposes the major themes behind that year’s cartoons. Do those themes place limits on cartoonists’ creativity?

“Occasionally,” muses Shapiro.

“I miss the times when I was doing six cartoons a week, because it gave me a chance to go where I wanted to go. I could do an esoteric cartoon about something that hardly mattered in the scheme of things, as I had the space. Now that I do fewer cartoons and more other work – talks; putting books together – it limits me. There’s responsibility as to what you cover if you’re working on a weekly publication as well.

“For the books, that only becomes evident over time. It takes time and editing and work to find your central idea – and a great title and a good image. If it’s packaged well, it looks more theme-driven than it actually was.”

With Shapiro, it does get personal from time to time. A number of the cartoons in My Big Fat Gupta Wedding feature the artist in the picture, which is not unreasonable given that he’s been involved in court cases featuring the likes of President Jacob Zuma, which do feature in general discourse. Personal milestones are celebrated and satirised, but the practice might be viewed as somewhat self-serving.

Political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, shows some of his cartoon at his home in Cape Town. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

“It’s possible, but it doesn’t worry me in the least,” says Shapiro. “It’s perfectly okay if I’m criticising someone for that person to criticise me. The reason I’m taking them on is usually because they’re a public figure and are doing something important or being corrupt or hypocritical – if there’s dialogue, that’s fine.

“Using these situations to try and maintain a profile was never part of any plan. I was at the right place at the right time as an anti-apartheid activist, which gave me a really good footing, during Mandela’s presidency, to do hard-hitting cartoons and be taken seriously. And then it moved into different territory in Mbeki’s time and then into very different territory in Zuma’s time.”

Do people question Shapiro’s impartiality if they’re missing the bigger picture?

“They often say, ‘Why are you obsessed with Zuma?’ But I have no problem with simply brushing that criticism off. Go anywhere in the world and the cartoonists and satirists are going mainly for the party and the person in power. In Russia, that’s a problem: Putin’s a seriously scary guy and the country’s a semblance of a democracy, but it isn’t one.

“We are not in that situation yet. We have a real democracy and we have tremendous freedom to say and do the things that we do in all sorts of media. We can be part of civil society that is criticising what is wrong, and try to take things in a different direction.”