His work has been featured in countless South African newspapers, landed him in hot water and even made us laugh on certain occasions. Zapiro, one of the greatest cartoonists of our time, has earned numerous accolades and was this week presented with one that honoured his contributions to South African education.
Pretoria, South Africa (26 May 2025) – If you’ve ever paged through some of South Africa’s most popular newspapers, you’ll likely have come across Jonathan Shapiro’s, known by many as Zapiro, editorial, and often controversial, satirical cartoons.
Recognised for not just his creative talent, illustrious career and impact on South African media and education, Zapiro was this week conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Education by the University of Pretoria.
“This honorary degree means a lot because it connects my life’s work with education, where many of my cartoons are making a difference,” said Zapiro.
With a career that began in the 1980s, Zapiro’s work has graced the pages of countless newspapers, sparked conversations and won multiple awards.
He’s even received a personal call from South Africa’s first democratic president, Nelson Mandela, encouraging him to continue his impactful work after his politically critical cartoons were discontinued in the Cape Argus newspaper back in 1997. Now, if that’s not impact, I quite frankly don’t know what is.
Fast forward many, many years later, he continues to push boundaries every day through his work in the Daily Maverick and still prefers to use his medium of choice, ink and penil, despite all the technological advancements that have taken shape in his lifetime.
According to UP, immediately after receiving his honorary doctorate, he is set to do a few school and university talks before flying to Australia for a screening of a documentary about his journey as a cartoonist.
Offering his nuggets of wisdom upon acceptance of the academic award, Zapiro encouraged the youth to avoid taking things at face value, but instead question and do research on just about everything that they hear, see and read in order to make informed decisions and develop an independent way of thinking.
Sources: University of Pretoria
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