adminThe number of people who started their career by writing short stories for the Sunday Mail magazine is growing at a fast pace. By the time Stephen Alumenda died a couple of years ago, he had taken up writing books for children on full-time basis.
Sam Munyavi, who wrote the Laughing It Off column, has a book to his credit.
Teacher-turned-journalist Wonder Guchu has published short stories in a number of books. His play on women in prison has been staged in theatre.
Now there is Kawengo Samachai. He is fast becoming a household name on the literary scene. Born in Shurugwi in 1969, he attended Parkinson Secondary School. His pen has highlighted the plight of miners through one of his books. The Sunday Mail provided the medium through which artists were able to develop themselves. This is important in the field of art because only through constant practice do artists realise the potential with which they were born.
They have gone back to writing in the dark and let their books float until they find their niche on the market. The newspapers in Zimbabwe should add entertaining value for their readers through short stories.
The culture of reading – books – among the people in this country is unquestionably very low. This should not be the case in a country which has about 15 universities and whose people read six newspapers everyday, not to mention a plethora of weeklies.
The Sunday newspapers in particular can help to improve the culture of reading of the people by giving them short stories which will make them laugh at their own follies. The weeklies can do more in terms of giving space to budding writers to practice writing. They would be doing what the newspapers in other countries did and continue to do. The writers who came through the magazines include Agatha Christie in Britain. She said that young people don’t know how to write because they no longer read the Bible! Georges Simenon from Belgium wrote more than 200 books from his base in France and in the Diaspora.
Lev Tolstoy had his mammoth War and Peace serialised in a magazine – as was the custom in Russia before a book was published.
It is the desire of writers to live by their pen. Ernest Hemmingway of the United States said that it was profitable to write short stories for magazines in the short-term than it was to write books. The newspapers in Zimbabwe can play a crucial role in grooming budding writers to realise their dream. The people who are born with the talent of writing find inspiration to do their work in more ways than one. Bertrand Russell tells us that William Shakespeare wouldn’t have become a playwright if he hadn’t stolen sheep and went to jail.
Shakespeare told warders that he would like to take up writing when he came out. He was given pen and paper and started writing his sonnets. Kawengo Samachai alludes to the influence of prison on writing in his collection. Most of the stories in the Job That Never Was first appeared in The Sunday Mail.
The artist presents intriguing facts of life that are eye an opener and have a positive influence on the way of life of the people. The artist shows this more clearly in Better a Thief Than a Fool. He warns us that, unless the Anti-Corruption Commission works hard, some people will end up asking themselves whether it pays to be honest when they see others getting rich through fraudulent activities. There are two characters in this story. Some people at the place where Moses works have stolen money. He is suspended for failing to blow the whistle and goes to the bar to drown his sorrows.
“You looked, you saw and you thought,” says a stranger to Moses. “Do you believe what you saw? And do you believe what you thought?”
“I don’t know you,” says Moses. “You don’t know me. We’re total strangers to each other. I won’t be fair to myself if I told you my woes.”
“We’re not strangers anymore,” says the stranger. “The moment I saw that you had problems, I became concerned.”
Moses tells the stranger his problems. The stranger explains how he found himself in a similar situation when he was working for the government. Six people that he had been working with stole $8 million.
They disappeared while they were on bail. The stranger and one the workers with whom he had remained in the accounts department compiled a report on how the six stole the money.
“The company said that our report showed that the fraud had been a simple operation,” recounts the stranger. “They said that the two of us should have noticed it and raised alarm. We were also suspended from work on suspicion that we had also stolen some of the $8 million. I should have helped myself to that money. Many people pride themselves in being honest. They’re ignorant of the obvious fact: Their honesty has to be measured, judged or weighed against the size of the temptation. The imagination of the police, judges, magistrates and prosecutors is of primary importance. Everything else is secondary. They put themselves in your shoes and think of what they would have done if they were you.
“Once they think that they would have done what you maintain that you didn’t do, you’ll find yourself languishing in prison.”
“If they think that you’re foolish enough not to have done what they wouldn’t have done, you’ll still find yourself in prison. That’s the reason why prisons are full of innocent people.
“Naturally, the people are thieves at heart. That’s why they go after people’s husbands or wives or friends’ girlfriends or boyfriends.
“That’s why they buy fakes, imitations, forgeries and try to convince themselves that they’re genuine. Nothing ever is because all is illusion. Don’t believe everything that you see.”
“Where is the moral of this story?” asks Moses.
“It’s better to be hanged for a sheep than for a lamb,” says the stranger. “Do you know the saying?”
“Yes,” answers Moses. “I think that I know it.”
“It’s better to be called a thief than a fool,” says the stranger. “Most people realise this when it’s too late. I could have helped myself to millions like what others did. I should be a very rich man indeed.”
“What are you doing now?” asks Moses.
“I’m a writer,” says the stranger.
Moses can’t imagine him writing anything else but the story that he has related to him.
Online Reporter