Interviews

Interviews

 

It is from the old way you write the new way.  The new way must have a foundation -  N.Ph.Hamandishe

Dr Itai T.Mupanduki

I caught up with Itai at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.

Physician

Public Health Consultant

Writer

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing for over 10 years, most of it academic but the literature since 2006.

My latest book is The Diamonds of Marange.  It’s a very important book and I believe every Zimbabwean should read this book.  It’s a metaphorical book based on a village that discovers diamonds with a government elite very interested in the diamonds and the multinationals also interested in the diamonds.  The book is about the conflicts that take place in this triangle with the ultimate losers being the villagers.

It also explores the diamond industry, its inception, the growth of DeBeers, its encroachment in Zimbabwe.  It also talks about  how this country was colonised because of the search for minerals primarily and how they set up these exploration rights and the implications to every Zimbabwean, why we need to look at this critically and advance the cause of our people.  So it’s a very important book.

How does your book differ or does it differ from international views of our diamond industry?

This is a book by a Zimbabwean, for Zimbabweans, for the betterment of our people.  It has a fair analysis, fair criticism from a writer’s perspective.  I’m here to write what I see happening and interpret it as a writer, speaking for the people so I do not have any international agenda whatsoever.  The purpose of this book, and this is why I say every Zimbabwean should read this book, is for us to come up with a better plan for our mineral rich country.

How do you view the Zimbabwe book industry currently?

I am publishing with Mambo press and I’ve been speaking with them.  I think the economic downturn affected the industry a lot in terms of production in terms of marketing, in terms of readership.  Also, the publishing industry is also very concerned about copyright.  There’s a lot of generalised photocopying of books going on in the streets and what this does is punish the authors because they’re not able to earn a living from their works.  To an extent, it may help the students in the schools who may not otherwise afford the books but in the long run it’s going to kill creativity as our authors find it hard to survive.

What changes would you like to see in the Zimbabwean book industry?

No.1 I would like to see more local participation

No.2 I would like to see more mentorship of our young population.  We have a very educated population.  By this point we should be able to produce most books needed in our universities, colleges, in our polytechnics but clearly it is not so because we have not mentored enough writers.  We have not mentored enough readership.  And like I said we need to address this copyright issue very seriously.

Are you based in Zimbabwe at the moment?

I come and go.  I’m currently based in the US.

Do you think the industry is that bad at the moment that writers should leave or is there enough sustainability in the local industry?

A writer does not have to leave, they can publish overseas. But clearly it’s important to promote the book industry here which is why everyone has to been involved from the Government to the consumer.  People must be responsible for Zimbabwean work so the writers here can survive with support.  The reason writers survive overseas is the support they get over there; sponsorship, marketing facilities and no copyright abuses but I would want to see more writers staying here and being mentored here.

What advice would you give to local writers?

They need to work together.  They need to work with the publishers around, to involve the government to be more supportive because I do not see the support at this book fair and most importantly they need the support of the public.  People need to understand that when they photocopy books or buy photocopied books that that’s to the detriment of the people who created the work.

How do you think our industry compares to the rest of the continent?

It’s hard to generalise but I can say, south of the border they’re doing a lot better.  In West Africa they’re doing a lot better but there’s also places where things are not going so well like the Congo and other places that have more economic hardships than Zimbabwe.

How do you see the Zim book industry in the future?

There’s a lot of hope because it’s a young population, it looks like the economy is getting better.  Hopefully things turn out better.  It’s a very educated population so I think with better information sharing, definitely things will get better.

What have you got on offer at the book fair?

At this book fair I have The Diamonds of Marange.  I also have Risen Bones, Wandering Spirits.  It’s a book about the SADC region based on a fictional Monomatapa country.  It covers the pre and post independence era.

The third book is The Doctrine of Common Good.  It focuses on how we can make the world a better place.  It talks about the united nations, the formation of the united nations, bretton woods, what exactly is the world bank, the IMF.  This book explains how the UN was formed and how our leaders probably made a mistake by joining the un after independence without asking for changes because when the un was formed we were dominions of European powers so not surprisingly we are not represented.  We are not in the security council and these issues have become very important lately.  You see what happened in Libya and what is happening in Syria also.  The security council is a very important organ and this book explains all these issues and I think it will help educate our people.

Interviews

It is from the old way you write the new way. The new way must have a foundation - N.Ph.Hamandishe

Vonai B.Paradza

Publishing Manager @ Mambo Press

Vonai at Mambo Press Book Fair Stand

What makes Mambo Press unique to other exhibitors at the book fair?

Its tradition as the oldest publisher in Zimbabwe, 50 years old now.  What give its strength is publishing fiction and with that Mambo Press helped in developing the local languages.  For many years it was the only publisher of fiction and these books were used in the schools.

The other uniqueness of Mambo Press is we are a Catholic press and we do publish liturgical material for the church and that is one of our strengths.

Do you get any support from the church?

I think it’s a weakness that the church has not taken it seriously. We’re owned by a diocese of Gweru.  We at Mambo Press would hope that all the eight dioceses in Zimbabwe would want to come in and own Mambo Press.  That would help a lot.

Why so few fiction stands?

I suppose it’s financial.  Text books have ready market.  To publish fiction is risky, perhaps that book would not become a set book and that would discourage publishers because we’re all struggling.

Do you think there’s anything Government can do like subsidising books? 

There’s much Government could do but the cry is always also, even the Government does have the money to do what it might want to do.

What future do you see for Mambo Press in light of this year’s theme?

We never give up.  The future is there but I think Mambo Press has to be more known. As it is it seems Mambo press productions are not known out there.  If people don’t wander into our bookshops then they don’t know we have books at all because we’re not on the internet.

How many shops do you have?

We have four; one in Harare, Gwere, Masvingo and in Gokwe.



Mambo Press Team. Itai from first interview is on the right

Interviews

It is from the old way you write the new way.The new way must have a foundation -N.Ph.Hamandishe

Interview with Timothy Tapfumaneyi and Charles Jackson

How did you get into Acting?

TT

It was around the early 90’s.  I was working at ZBC as a general hand and we used to knock off at around 3.30 and there was a staff bus to take us into town and we used to sit at the back of the bus and crack jokes and laugh. Laurence Simbarashe (mundara bonzo)used to come there and we used to laugh.  One day he called me to the studio to say Timmy I want you to do exactly what you do on the bus.  I was a bit nervous at first but he encouraged me and we recorded our first programme and it was a hit.  That programme later transferred to television and that’s how it all started.

CJ

My name is Charles Jackson and I started acting in 2000/1.  My first programme was a tv drama series called Mupenyu Mutoro then after that we did Timmy na Bonzo which is popularly known as Bonzo ne Chiqwata.  Acting was like a hobby I did at school and I remember one time there was an interschools competition whereby Lawrence was one of the judges and he recognised my talent and he called me to act in Bonzo ne chiqwata.

What sort of changes have you seen in the industry?

TT

Let me hasten to say that on the film side I’m not so impressed as compared to music.  In music there are lots of guys doing well. The film industry is not performing so well. The main problem is remuneration, you want to do something that puts food on the table for your children.  Here in Zimbabwe acting does not pay and you can agree with me that we had a lot of our big names in the industry who just died as paupers – with nothing.   (Get pics)?  So I think what is lacking is proper representation in our government.  Yes we’ve got the ministry of sports and culture but I don’t see anyone in that ministry who has been an artist so if there’s no representation there’s nothing can be done.  Gone are the days where we used to say that actors or musicians are not learned.  Here is an actor.  I’ve got my degree, I’m doing my masters.  Very soon I will be doing my doctorate.  So I think that’s what should be done.  We need proper representation. 

TT

To me, one of the issues that has killed acting in Zimbabwe is the issue of piracy where you would find that – one day I was listening to a speech by the Hon Minister Shamu where he equalled these people to vampires and he said he would lobby this into parliament to try and see if someone is caught doing this they would be jailed for more than five years.  I really second that.  It’s even too late, it should have started yesterday because you see like my colleague here has been saying, we spend a lot of time doing this and for someone to sell it for 50 cents is not good.  Acting it doesn’t pay in Zimbabwe.  For instance when filming in Domboshawa, for us to come from Harare we have to fork out our own money, lunch.  Maybe even the clothes we’re wearing we have to buy ourselves so for someone to benefit from all that effort is not on.  They’re really vampires like the honourable minister has said.

Where would you like to see the industry in the next five years?

Like I pointed out before that we also need our own ZimWood in Zimbabwe.  We’ve got a lot of talent in Zimbabwe.  We’ve got places, very nice places, resort areas where we can also make our films big time.  So I think on the positive lets have a budget for artists.  The minister of finance should also put something aside for artists to develop the arts industry.  You know that the arts industry is quite a big employer.

CJ

Yeah, it is for sure.

TT

We can’t just cry about unemployment, unemployment yet we have a lot of talent here.  We can have our young guys leave school, enter the entertainment industry and really make it.

What are you guys working on at the moment?

TT

Yes we’ve got quite a number of projects.  There’s a soap sometime in August.  I can’t say much about it because I’m not the producer, I’m just one of the main actors and we also want to, we’re working on a one hour comedy DVD that we intend to sell and support Mudara Bonzo.  Things have not been going well for him so we want to support him.

CJ

What we’re saying is Mudara Bonzo is not feeling well.  Recently he was in hospital.  He’s now out of hospital so what we’re trying to do as artists is invite other artists who are willing to come and do it on a free basis.  The proceeds of the DVD will all go to help with Mudara Bonzo’s medical bills and upkeep.

Favourite Sporting moment?

CJ

Football is my favourite sport. I support Dynamos FC.  I like all of Takesure Chinyama’s goals.

TT

I like athletics and my favourite athlete is my daughter, Moreblessing.