‘Tell stories in native languages’

03 Jul, 2022 - 00:07 0 Views
‘Tell stories in native languages’ Mthabisi Maphosa

The Sunday News

Nkosizile Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent

BULAWAYO-based writer Mthabisi Maphosa has said it is the duty of writers to tell community stories using indigenous languages so as to preserve African culture for posterity.

The 20-year-old former Masotsha High School student holds a strong view that in order for Africans to appreciate and understand their history and chart a path to development, they have to read books written in their native languages.

Maphosa has just penned his second book titled Kudala Kwakunganje which he describes as an offing that will bring positive change to youths and the community at large.

He said his upbringing and rural background at Magedleni Village in Gwanda inspired him to scribble stories and bind them into novels. The young story teller said he developed his passion for writing after noticing that a lot of people, especially youths, have deviated from their culture.

Masotsha High School

His first writing work Wisdom Stars Versus Arrogance At Seasides was published in 2021 and was co-authored with Winiwe Nkomo.  In his latest offing, the 15 points Advanced Level holder worked with his former classmate at Masotsha High School Iphithule Ndlovu.  

Both of them were doing Arts subjects at Advanced Level in 2021 and that’s when they developed an interest to pen a Ndebele book.

“This book is a brain child of arguments I had with my former classmate, best friend and co-author Iphithule Ndlovu. We found ourselves debating about culture and devising ways to preserve it. 

“Penning the book seemed to have settled well with us. We managed to collaborate because we would spend time debating about our culture and ways to preserve it, hence the collaboration gave birth to Kudala Kwakunganje, a unique book with a different text.

Maphosa said the book is a recollection of the past mixed with contemporary views. 

“The story in the book is told from a woman’s narrative as the persona decries the moral decay happening today comparing with the past. The book is about the moral decay in the community, with the central setting of the book being Bulawayo streets.

Mpilo Central Hospital

“It will reprimand the youths and also enlighten them about the dangers of abandoning their culture. Black people must know where they come from so that they know where they are going. So apt is the book’s title as well,” he said.

Maphosa’s book, published by Pentolacut Publishers,  was launched at a colourful ceremony in Bulawayo last week on Saturday.  Born at Mpilo Hospital in 2002, the young writer aspires to be a lawyer.

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