Train commuters treated to free books
2000-09-08 14:06
Johannesburg û Train commuters were on Friday treated to presents of free books in commemoration of International Literacy Day.
Among the books distributed, under the banner of the S'Timela project, are Welcome Msomi's Umabatha a Zulu version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, TK Malebje's Mohudi, a Tswana version of Sol Plaatje'sMohudi and the epic poem Madiba!, featuring Nelson Mandela.
The project is a joint venture between publishers Heinemann, Pansat, Metrorail and the Directorate for Library and Information Sciences.
In South Africa, where a large portion of the population has limited access to literature in their home languages, illiteracy is aggravated by several factors.
Many black writers who were in exile during the apartheid years, had decided decades ago to rather write in English than in their mother tongue.
Mandla Langa, for example, a few months ago said he and his fellow writers from that era had wanted to reach as large an audience as possible. That's why he chose to write in English in preference to Zulu.
Similarly Es'kia Mphahlela, Zakes Mda and Wally Serote preferred to write in English. In addition foreign publishers mainly publish their work.
When M-Net, a few years back, decided to award a literary prize for African languages, it was hoped that this would encourage indigenous writers to create original work. The project, however, has had limited success.
A contributing factor to the fact that few books in black languages are available, might be that bookshops are driven by profit margins. If books donÆt sell, they are not available on the shelves. And unfortunately there is a limited demand for books in indigenous languages.
"South Africa only has about 400 000 regular book buyers. This translates into 1% of the population," said Heinemann managing director Nicholas Evans.
Heinemann, two years ago initiated a five-year project to publish books in all official South African languages. The almost 15 000 books distributed on Friday among commuters forms part of the project, introduced as the Mamela Afrika Series.
"A very real danger exists that some of these languages could become extinct. Professional people, living in cities, often donÆt speak their home languages. With Mamela, we are attempting at making a contribution to the protection of the countryÆs natural heritage."