Durban - The greatest injustice is the accident of birth, according to legendary cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, best known as Zapiro.
“That some of us find ourselves in privileged positions and so many find themselves in positions of dire circumstance,” he told the Independent on Saturday.
Next Sunday, he will be in Kloof to raise funds for the YES Trust, which identifies disadvantaged youth with potential, then enables them to have a tertiary education and guides them through it.
“You need luck, drive and help from places that you might not expect it to come from.
“You need those breaks and it’s important to find such people and give them breaks. They then find resources in themselves that were always there but never surfaced.”
Shapiro said he found institutions such as the YES Trust “enormously inspirational”.
“Whenever I hear about people doing remarkable and unusual things to find ways to help people who would otherwise have a hard time, I would want to find a way of helping them in some way.”
The talk, titled “Careful - This Pen is Loaded”, will also bring the Capetonian to the home of one of his greatest inspirations as a cartoonist: comic artist, writer, historian and “full-on Durban Bluff surfer guy” Andy Mason.
“When I arrived at the University of Cape Town, Andy’s stuff was used in the student left-wing publication. He was a legend.”
Shapiro also remembers two workshops he held in KwaMashu, in 2006 and again in 2009.
“In 2006 we had a great reception. In 2009 it was a luke-warm reception. I was puzzled by what I interpreted to be a laughter boycott. It was the heartland of (former president Jacob) Zuma.
“People were being watched and couldn’t be exposed too much.”
One of Zapiro’s iconic images is that of Zuma with a shower head on his head, a reference to his infamous claim during his rape trial, in which he was acquitted, that he had showered to wash HIV off his body after having unprotected sex.
Shapiro said that while all the negative effects of the Zuma era were still around, he hoped they would diminish in time so that South Africa could move forward.
His talk will take place on Sunday, October 28 at 6pm at St Agnes Church, Abelia Road, Kloof.