By Farayi Mungoshi

ON May 28 1984, my parents bought their first car, a Ford Laser.
I recall my father pointing at the car with his forefinger, while his left hand clutched a small bottle of brandy and saying: “Inongove Njake Njake.”
It didn’t make sense then what he meant and I brushed it aside as ‘drunken talk’ but years later, I found out the car had been bought by proceeds from one of his books, Inongove Njake Njake, which had been selected as a set book for the then Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC).
It was published by Longman.
Longman was at it again in 1986. According to the author of Akanga Nyimo, Charles Muzemba: “I managed to buy a car and fridge with royalties from Akanga Nyimo in 1986.”
Later in 1997, he managed to buy a car and make a house deposit payment with Rovambira which was published by College Press.
Not many writers in Zimbabwe can boast buying a car or house from monies made through books or royalties.
We are still nowhere near the Stephen Kings or J.K. Rowlings who have made millions through writing books.
Will we ever make it to such levels, given the rampant book piracy going on in Zimbabwe?
Can we fully blame the dying reading culture we are experiencing as reason for not making profit in this industry?
Others, in search of solutions to the piracy problem, have even resolved to finding ways to communicate with vendors and trying to find common ground whereby everyone benefits given the economic hardships.
One of Zimbabwe’s leading authors Aaron Chiundura Moyo shared with me three heartbreaking experiences he had with vendors who made him see that he was fighting a war that he could not win unless Government intervened.
He said he once had a run-in with a vendor as the vendor was trying to sell him a copy of a book, Kereke Inofa that he (Chiundura Moyo) had penned.
“He was arguing with me about how much I should buy the book despite the fact that I wrote the book and he didn’t know I was the author,” he said.
In another instance, Chiundura Moyo got into a near fistfight with a vendor along Nelson Mandela Avenue near Harvest House.
The vendor had copies of Pane Nyaya, Kereke Inofa and Chenga Ose.
He was advised by a ‘very understanding’ youth to let it go otherwise things could turn really ugly.
Chiundura Moyo says he gave up chasing vendors the day some of them (vendors) decided to give him some inside information concerning how they came to be in possession of these books and hence in business.
The vendors revealed that some of the publishers were actually their suppliers.
And in another case, he got tipped of a vendor heading to a local school with a load of his book, Kereke Inofa, to hand over to a teacher whose business is to supply students throughout the school with books.
“I realised then that the best way to fight piracy is to have a heartfelt one-on-one with Dr Lazarus Dokora (Minister of Primary and Secondary Education),” said Chiundura Moyo.
At last, the writers’ cry for justice has been heard as Government is now going to buy textbooks and other learning materials worth US$9 million from publishers as it implements the new curriculum.
According to The Herald, Dr Dokora, in a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Professor Paul Mavhima, said the purchasing of learning material would be procured in phases and would be from different publishers who were tasked with the development of teaching and learning materials.
It is no longer a secret that there is bad blood between publishers and writers, the reason being there is a lot of dishonesty involved.
Most authors are not given actual figures pertaining to the number of books printed and sold by a publisher, thus it is hard to know how much you, as an author, is making at the end of the day.
What this initiative offers is transparency as the figures of material bought by Government will not be held secret thereby making it easy for an author to account for every book sold.
However, not every writer will be happy about this since only a few have written books suitable for the primary and secondary school curriculum.
It does, however, offer opportunity for those willing to take up the task as the new curriculum is welcoming new learning materials deemed suitable to propel education in Zimbabwe higher.
With the rise of self-publishing in Zimbabwe as a result of mistrust between some of the more traditional publishers and authors, writers must take the new curriculum implementation as an opportunity for profitable business.
This is a move in the right direction and Government must be commended for doing so.
Perhaps one day our own writers will be able to stand up tall among the world’s millionaire authors.
It is embarrassing for our writers to boast buying cars from royalties when others are buying multiple villas.