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problem of piracy now required joint efforts by all stakeholders and should never be left to the police alone. Participants to the Indaba will come from writers, writers associations, publishers associations and publishers that do not belong to associations, librarian associations, booksellers associations, heads of schools associations and representatives of tertiary institutions.
“The Indaba will also include representatives from the police and the Ministry of Justice, who craft and implement the various laws that deal with the infringement of the rights of writers and publishers.
“As you are aware, there is so much illegal photocopying and book-binding taking place in schools and colleges. We feel it is critical that we involve the heads of such institutions in the discussions if we are to deal with the menace of piracy in the country,” he said.
He added the digital revolution had made pirating easy as one can scan a book, photocopy and bind it for sale at low cost.
“In some instances, as one police officer was saying, the photocopying is so perfect that you can’t tell the difference between what is pirated and what is not.
“The vendor may not be the problem but the one who is actually churning out the material. The police alone may not be able to find out who is behind the production of illegal books hence the need for a combination of forces by police, public and the writers in fighting piracy.
“Our writers and publishers are facing major challenges from book pirating which has become our biggest challenge affecting both the writers and readers,” he said.
Zimunya said they were still to fix the dates as consultations were still ongoing. The indaba already has support from Government, which has spoken strongly against infringement of copyright in Zimbabwe.
leeroy
Online Reporter