The country is facing a reading crisis with 41% of South Africans owning less than 10 books, according to a survey by the South African Paper Manufacturers Association (Pamsa).
But book ownership should not be the only measure of South Africa’s literacy culture and access to books in all forms should be improved, said Pamsa chief executive Jane Malony.
“Books in libraries and similar facilities and books in a variety of languages for South Africans. Picture books for little hands and developing brains also have tremendous power, and ideally books should be on paper,” she said.
The survey showed that when reading for pleasure, 32% of the participants preferred paper books to electronic versions.
Julia Norrish, executive director of Book Dash, a nonprofit publisher of African picture books for young children, said the survey offered valuable insight into reading preferences.
“Many people find print valuable in their daily lives and in the way they prefer to consume information. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always correlate with the number of people who own and access the books,” she said.
The process of creating books and distributing them requires skill, time and money, making them unaffordable for most families, he added. But if children have access to books when they are very young, they can increase their chances of success in life.
A language barrier can also contribute to people’s low reading rate, particularly as only 2% of commercially published children’s books in South Africa are in local African languages, Pamsa said.
“In a country where eight out of 10 people speak a mother tongue other than English or Afrikaans, creating relatable stories in indigenous languages is critical if we hope to improve children’s literacy and inspire a love of reading in future generations.” said.
Malony believes that access to books is important for early childhood development because it helps little ones develop their language and comprehension skills.
“Countless research studies have shown that paper-based materials promote reading comprehension, information retention, and learning, and that print texts are superior to digital texts in facilitating learning strategies,” he said.
Melusi Tshabalala, the author of Gogo Magic and his food truckyou think the problem is not the reading platform.
“The country doesn’t have a great reading culture, so whether it’s physical or digital books, people aren’t interested. People need to fall in love with reading, no matter the medium or the platform,” she said.
Tshabalala praised the work done by organizations such as Nali’bali, a national campaign targeting children as young as 12, saying that any organization that promotes reading, particularly among children, should be commended and supported.
“We need more stories that are relevant to the lives and realities of our children, stories with children like them and families like theirs,” she said.
Tshabalala’s book tells the story of 18-year-old Tumelo and two of his younger brothers, Akhile and Azande, who wanted to share their amazing gogo with other children, especially those who live far away or don’t have one.
“I also brought (the story) to life by launching a food truck that sells the food mentioned in the book, prepared by my mother, whose real name is Magic, just like uGogo in the book,” Tshabalala said.
The book is available electronically and the Gogo Magic food truck operates on weekends at the Fourways Farmers Market in Modderfontein, Johannesburg.
