Booksellers enjoy bumper festive sales

THE Denis Hurley Centre is working on extending its contract with the city after its street booksellers sold over 1000 books in just two weeks along the Durban beachfront over the festive season.

The Street Lit programme was designed to empower homeless people by having them sell secondhand books as a means of making a living. According to the DHC, their street sellers made a substantial income of about R20 000 over the holiday season. Staurt Talbot, Project Coordinator at the DHC, said having the booksellers along the beach had proven to be a successful initiative. “We are working on extending the contract with the city because it was only a temporary agreement. We suspected that having them along the beach would be successful and it proved to be,” he said.

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One of the success stories of the programme is Richard Nzima. Nzima, originally from Mpumalanga province, came to Durban a couple of years ago on the promise of a job but after that did not materialise, he ended up homeless. Fortunately for Nzima, he got in touch with the DHC and joined the bookseller initiative in 2018. “I sold about 238 books in just two weeks and that was a first for me,” he said. “A lot of people were from outside Durban so they just wanted a nice novel to read either on the bus or plane back home. I think people were pleasantly surprised to find books being sold on the beach. When we told them the story of street booksellers they were happy to support us.

”The street booksellers have also undergone first aid training programmes and that training came in handy for Pat Khumalo who recently went to the aid of an indisposed passerby. “Aside from the festive season and first aid training, I think the most basic thing is getting Durban to read. A book that costs R400 at bookstores costs about R20 here and it’s still the same words,” said Khumalo.

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