Born in 1958, Jonathan Shapiro (ZAPIRO) is South Africa's most successful and widely know cartoonist. Starting out with the UDF newspaper 'South' in 1987, he was arrested as a political activist the next year before leaving for New York on a 3 year Fulbright Scholarship.

Since his return, he has drawn for 'The Sowetan' (1994 - 2005) 'The Mail & Guardian' (since 1994), 'The Sunday Times' (since 1998), 'Independent Newspapers' (September 2005 - 2008) and 'The Times' (since 2009).

His work has featured in exhibitions all over the world and many books including his own annuals, the most recent of which is titled "Don't Mess with the President's Head" (Jacana 2009). An impressive collection of Mandela cartoons by Zapiro has been published under the title of "The Mandela Files".

Before he became president, Jacob Zuma sued Zapiro for R15 Million for defamation of character. The amount has since been reduced to about R2 Million.

Zapiro is a professional speaker with international credentials, and is also co-creator of the online puppet satire ZA NEWS.