Donation of the novel: “The Imperatives of Revoking Our Silence”

Earlier this year, the Department of Library Services (DLS) received a generous donation from Mr Hosia Malekane, who authored the book “The Imperatives of Revoking Our Silence”. This book has a more serious but necessary theme of gender-based violence. Malekane describes his book as “addressing the exacerbating gender-based violence that is terrorizing all citizens of our beloved country.” “The scourge is now pervading our universities and colleges and we need to harness our collective to resolve and eradicate it.”, he says.

The story follows the main character, Moja, a second-year university student who is left horrified when a storm of prejudice and abuse breaks out around her. A first-year student is sexually molested during orientation week and later in the year, another female student is murdered. The story then follows her journey as Moja decides to fight back and refuse to stand for such terrible acts displayed against the young women in her community.

The setting of the story was chosen as a university because Hosia believes this is where young people truly develop. Here, students transform academically and develop their character from adolescence into adulthood. He said this setting was necessary to show character transformation and to warn people about the disturbing spreading of gender-based violence and sexual violence into university scenes.

Hosia believes that with the serious issue of gender-based violence: prevention is better than cure. “I am appealing to all students to be proactive bystander participants, to be your brother’s and sister’s keeper.”, he says.

In acknowledgment that most students cannot afford to purchase this book, Hosia reached out to the private sector for help. Thankfully, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa committed to sponsoring the donation of the books to the UP library. Please find their letter of support on the matter attached below.

Cover of the novel: "The Imperatives of Revoking Our Silence" 

Donation of the book with representatives from the DLS, Coco-Cola Beverages, and the author himself (Mr. Hosia Malekane)