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Beaven Tapureta-At the Bookstore

Costa Shizha (60) loves books. He has always loved reading since he was a youth, growing up in colonial Rhodesia.

A resident of Epworth on the outskirts of Harare, Shizha’s story is testimony that ordinary Zimbabweans have not lost appetite for leisure reading.

Book purchasing habits may have undeniably diminished due to economic factors, but the craving for books still exists.

Neighbours, friends and relatives have resorted to informal borrowing, or sharing of books, because they find no library, or book club in the vicinity to quell their desire for reading.

As the director of Writers International Network Zimbabwe (WIN), I have met Shizha, commonly known in the neighbourhood as Sinyoro, uncountable times as he frequents my Epworth home with incessant requests for books to read.

He borrows and later returns the books, and at times, we sit under a tree to talk about book issues in general. 

Sometimes when broke, he sells me those books he would have stumbled on during his adventures, and would have finished reading.

In Epworth, there is another friend of his, Chikwanda, who has a personal library, and also lends him books.

However, it is his undying reading habit which dates back to his youth in the Rhodesian era that one finds impressive.

For him, age and formal education level are not stumbling blocks if one has faith in the written word.

During the oppressive colonial regime, literacy was a pursuit that Shizha and other youths of his generation had to take seriously, for they believed knowledge to be the key to mental liberation.

This meant plunging into the world of books.

It so happened that academically, he could not advance to secondary level, as schools had to be closed because of the liberation war. 

But still the desire to explore knowledge bound in books burned in him.

His first boss, James Jollif, who owned a supermarket in Gokwe entrenched the strong love of books in the young Shizha, who was then a till operator. 

When Shizha asked for help from his boss to further his education, the boss promptly bought him a table and chair, and assisted him to correspond with ICS up to Form Two.

Reading helped him, and came with a benefit that changed the course of his life, as soon after Independence, he was recommended for a job as bank clerk at Beverley Building Society in Kwekwe. 

Although he later stopped working for the bank, his relationship with books kept gaining momentum until he came to Harare to stay with a brother at the railways security camp.

Shizha found a new job at the Jameson Hotel as a barman, but the tight shifts stole his reading time.

He ventured into motor mechanics, first as a trainee at Monomotapa Technical College, and then worked as a qualified mechanic at various companies in Bindura and Harare.

During this period, Shizha had only newspapers as reading material.

“I was a daily newspaper reader,” he says. “And on weekends, when I came back to Harare, I would visit the Travellers’ Bookshop situated at the railway station.

“I would try to borrow, or read for free. I remember seeing the late Canaan Banana (the first President of Zimbabwe), a politician and writer, buying his books there.” 

The bookshop led him to another source of reading material, this time a broader source, the Rotten Row City Library, now Harare City Library.

“Since I had my education cut short because of the war, I sought knowledge in books on my own. Up to now, I am still reading,” says Shizha.

Even though he has forgotten some names of popular writers during his heyday, Shizha says he was closely exposed to literature as his brother, Morgan, wrote a book titled “Mhandu Yemunhu Munhu” in the 1960s.

As for today’s youths getting swayed by phones and social media, thus giving up on reading time, Shizha urges society to educate young people about the importance of education and reading for leisure.

However, the question often asked is: how can these young people be drawn back to reading?

Many studies have shown how mobile phones can be used to inspire reading culture. 

However, the physical book cannot be denied space in whatever attempts to enhance a reading culture, and Shizha proposes the introduction of libraries, particularly in private colleges, which are blooming all over the country.

“If you look around, you will see many private colleges,” he says. “Some of them have no books at all. Libraries should be introduced in those private schools, or colleges and also in rural Government schools.” 

Organisations such as Writers International Network Zimbabwe, the Harare City Library and Zimbabwe Reads, have in the past come together to donate books to school writers’ clubs in Epworth. 

Such efforts, with the aid of local authors and publishers, are bound to produce fruit.