Celebrate the Springboks with Pick n Pay Clothing and Zapiro

L to R: Zapiro (Jonathan Shapiro), Hazel Pillay (PnP Clothing) and Sean Summers (PnP CEO). Image supplied

After drawing dozens of Springbok cartoons over more than 30 years, Zapiro (Jonathan Shapiro) has selected five of his favourites to be printed on T-shirts.

The limited-edition garments go on sale this month to coincide with the first anniversary of South Africa’s 2023 Rugby World Cup victory.

Two T-shirts go on sale in 200 Pick n Pay Clothing stores nationwide from 14 October 2024. Three more cartoons drawn by Zapiro, including one from last month after South Africa won the Freedom Cup by beating New Zealand twice in the Rugby Championship, can be printed on t-shirts in-store on Saturday, 19 October, at Canal Walk, Sandton City, and Gateway.

Bringing people together

Zapiro says the Springbok team’s back-to-back Rugby World Cup successes in 2019 and 2023 brought people together across many divides.

“When Pick n Pay Clothing asked me to get involved with a campaign expressing how South Africa’s diversity is our strength, I felt my rugby cartoons could have the best impact.”

Pick n Pay Clothing executive, Hazel Pillay, says: “In his own unique way, Zapiro has written the story of South Africa over the past three decades. His rugby cartoons beautifully depict how we stand together and use our diversity to excel on the international stage.

“Everyone knows who he is, and his work cuts across society. He has a wonderful way of being inclusive in how he describes where we are as a country and where we have been, and we couldn’t have a better partner as we celebrate the pinnacle South African rugby has achieved.”

Madiba magic

In keeping with the theme of national unity, one of the cartoons printed on the T-shirts features Nelson Mandela doing his famous “Madiba Shuffle”.

Zapiro drew the cartoon series for his 2008 book, The Mandela Files, and says it’s appropriate that South Africa’s first democratic president should be part of the limited edition.

The earliest cartoon chosen for the T-shirt prints dates back to 1996, titled ‘Nation-building is a whole new ball game’.

It was created after South Africa's victory in the Africa Cup of Nations and highlighted how recent sporting triumphs further united the nation, echoing Mandela’s famous words: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire.”

In this cartoon, Mandela donned a South African speedo - “two decades before Faf (Francois Faf de Klerk) did his thing,” Zapiro jokes.

“The way Mandela embraced the Springboks at the 1995 Rugby World Cup showed that he understood the power of sport to build the nation,” he says.

“In the past few years, we’ve seen that come to full fruition with the captaincy of Siya Kolisi and the vision of Rassie Erasmus, and it’s been inspiring.”

The cartoon that marked the start of the 1999 Rugby World Cup is also included in the collection. It features a running Springbok clutching the Webb Ellis Cup won four years earlier, with the seven leading rugby nations of the time – each represented by an animal – in hot pursuit.

Another cartoon selected, drawn at the end of the 2023 trophy tour, includes every member of the squad for the final against New Zealand, as well as director of rugby Erasmus and coach Jacques Nienaber.

The players are jumping for joy on springbok legs, and Zapiro says: “I discovered that pronk is a real word that refers to springboks leaping, and everything flowed from there.”

The final cartoon - “Green is the new black” – was drawn this year, celebrating the Springbok team's victories.

The two limited-edition T-shirts, which are 100% cotton and made in South Africa, are now on sale in 200 Pick n Pay Clothing stores.

Shoppers can choose from three iconic cartoons, with the prints available at select Pick n Pay Clothing stores from 9am to 5pm: Canal Walk (Cape Town), Sandton City (Johannesburg), and Gateway (Durban).