Nyandezulu lass Mbali publishes book which tackles depression

Nyandezulu resident, Mbali Zondo’s book has taken people by storm. To date ‘Surviving Lungelo’ has been trending on social media platforms and South Coasters have also showed their support by purchasing the book.

The 21-year-old self-published author started writing her first book in 2015 but never published it. Surviving Lungelo is her first published book and the reason why people are excited about it, is because it tackles issues of ignored depression in the black community, interracial relationships, abortions, femicide as well as domestic violence.

“The book is written in the first person. I did that because I wanted readers to use their imagination and feel as though they are living the character’s life as they read. The story circles around every young women’s nightmare, being hooked on a ‘boy’ who is not worth it. The subject matter highlighting problems young women face when trying to please parents, friends, boyfriends and losing themselves in the process.”

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”It’s an illustration of depression among teenagers, which also gives examples of things that often lead to the silent epidemic. It also shows how people can help those who suffer from depression due to life’s inevitable situations,” she explained. 

Mbali’s reason for writing the book is not only because she is studying counselling psychology, but because she has two siblings who suffer from intellectual disability; and the ongoing senseless killing of women troubled her.

”It was time I voiced out and addressed the elephant in the room. The response I have received and continue to receive is overwhelming. Yes, publishing a book without a publisher is a challenge but my parents have been supportive.

”I managed to publish and design the book after I was invited to a book summit in Durban, which is where I met a publisher who helped me with the process of editing and publishing,” she said.

She added that she knows that most local books don’t do well, ”There are more advantages when writing online but this is my first published book and I don’t want people to share the book with each other on social media. Writing online also makes it easy for people to steal ideas.” 

With public figures such as media mogul, Bonang Matheba writing and publishing a book with tons of grammatical errors, she has involuntarily prepared Mbali to be extra careful when it comes to the proofreading of the book.

The circulation of the book on social media caught Dudu Busane’s attention, who is the brain behind the famous Hlomu the wife book series.

”I jumped in excitement when Dudu placed an order, she is one of my favourite South African authors. I’m glad she noticed because I made sure that I don’t make grammatical mistakes. I wanted to write a book that could be easily read and would allow people to find a bit of themselves in the characters,” said Mbali.

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