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Rabison Shumba

Tawanda Marwizi : Arts Correspondent

Renowned author Rabison Shumba’s bid to fight piracy hit a brick wall at the weekend after hooligans attacked him at corner George Silundika and Angwa Street in the capital. Shumba had tried to take copies of his books as well as attempting to drag the man to the police. The pirates turned violent assaulting plain clothes police officers who had come to the scene.“They even turned it into a political issue accusing me of being an abductor,” Shumba said.

Shumba said he was lucky to escape uninjured as they were threatening to destroy his car.

“They ignored the police officers advancing to me threatening to destroy my car as well as beating me,” he said.

The author said he had since taken up the matter and he would team up with other artists and approach relevant authorities.

“They were selling a collection of poems from different artists and how do they expect them to do other projects? They are making money out of someone’s effort which is very bad,” he said.

Shumba said it was high time authorities step up in the fighting against piracy.

“It is important that we as artists work with the authorities to have this disease called piracy end. We should fight from one corner and am sure we will try to map a way forward with relevant authorities to eliminate it,” he added.

Shumba is one of the best-selling authors in Zimbabwe, international motivational speaker, life coach and youth mentor.

Piracy has affected several artists who have failed to make several productions.

Most of the pirates publicly sell the books in most of the streets in Harare and other cities, a move that has affected several authors.