Senior and junior book writers visited Kimberley Correctional Service as part of the festival that takes place annually to empower young writers in reaching their full potential. The visit was productive and effective with the likes of Dr. Lesego Malepe, Mr. Sabata Mokae, Mr. Niq Mhlongo, Ms. Jacqui Zimba and Ms. Sibongile Fisher.
Dr. Malepe introduced her book Matters of life and death and shared her personal life experience with the inmates at the correctional service. She obtained her Ph.D at Boston University. Matters of life and death is about a family that struggled under apartheid in 1963. Dr. Malepe says that the main motive behind her writing is to emphasize the fact that we should never let our current circumstances derail us from doing what we were born to do. “You being here should not mean anything. My brother was arrested in Robben Island prison and when he was released, he came out with various Degrees and Diplomas so being in jail should not be the reason why you cannot do anything productive with your life,” says Dr. Malepe.
Mr. Mokae also shared his art work with the inmates. He is one of the few authors who writes in Setswana. Mr. Mokae says that one of the reasons he enjoys writing is because of writing is the only form of communication where no one will judge you. “Find yourself a friend, a friend that will not judge you, that friend is a blank page,” says Mr. Mokae. He shared one of his books titled Ga ke modisa which translates as “I’m not a shepherd.” The book is about two brothers who fell in love with the same coloured girl. One of the brothers was a mayor and the other one a journalist.
One of the rarest local writers is Sibongile Fisher as she writes short stories. Sibongile does not only write short stories but she is also a poet and drama facilitator. She holds a B.Com Degree in Marketing Management and Higher Certificate in Performing Arts. She is the co-founder of The Raising Zion Foundation, an arts organization that focuses on promoting literature, poetry and the performing arts in high schools. Sibongile shared her book titled Migrations with the inmates. The book consists of various short stories. “Reading for leisure is important as it increases our knowledge capacity,” says Sibongile.
Niq Mhlongo was born in Soweto, 1973. Amongst the four art works he had published, he decided to share Dog eat dog with the inmates at Kimberley Correctional Service. This book is basically about a student who did not have funding at a tertiary level. He introduces the title of the book as “survival of the fittest” because not everyone makes it at the university.
Jacqui Zimba shared her first ever book with the inmates titled Tales of the Azanian princess with the inmates. Jacqui is originally from Rhodesia but grew up in Vryburg. Jacqui’s Tales of the Azanian princess focuses on issues such as racism, low self-esteem, xenophobia and depression. She suffered from Xenophobia from a very tender age and that is one of the reasons she developed a passion for writing.“As I’ve highlighted earlier on, I was bullied and suffered from Xenophobia at a very tender age so this taught me how to stand up for myself. As black people, we should not always rely on other people to do things for us, we should learn to do things for ourselves and grab opportunities,” says Jacqui.