Ernest Oppong

African Publishers Network

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The African Publishers Network (APNET) was established in 1992, bringing together national publishers associations and publishingcommunities in the African continent to strengthen indigenous or independent publishing. After some years of dormancy APNET hasrecently started a rejuvenation process withErnest Oppong acting as Executive Director. Stephanie Kitchen talked with Ernest about APNET’s future plans.

May 2018

Stephanie Kitchen (SK): The African Publishers Network (APNET) was established in 1992, bringing together national publishersassociations and publishing communities in the African continent to strengthen indigenous or independent publishing. Ernest, what are yourimmediate and longer terms objectives for the organisation?  

Ernest Oppong (EO): APNET’s immediate objectives are to encourage and formulate national and regional book policies. On November 22–23, 2017APNET and presidents of the various African publishers associations had a regional conference in Yaounde, Cameroon organised by the WorldIntellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). One of the key issues was creating a national book policy and determining action plans toformulate those policies and to implement a legal framework within which local governments and the publishing industry can work together.APNET is actively working with international organisations such as WIPO, the International Publishers Association (IPA) and theInternational Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) to achieve this objective. As it stands now, a few African countries,including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Malawi, have the national book policy. However, local governments do not completely comply with thepolicy document because of the absence of legal backing. 

APNET will support subscription to international conventions and standards where these serve national interests. It will establish aninformation network among African publishers.

This objective is being enhanced by revising and developing its publications and connecting African publishers to international publishers. 

The Network is promoting book trade among and beyond Africa. APNET is committed to promoting African books and trade in international bookplatforms. Our objective is to get African publishers selling and buying more book rights; translating into other languages etc. 

Finally, it is engaging international donors for support.

Long term objectives include establishing mutual collaboration among African publishers and their respective governments; strengthening andconsolidating training resources in Africa; partnering with some African universities and running publishing training programmes.

We would like to create reprographic rights organisations in African countries that do not have these and initiate and develop policystudies on the expansion and economic development of the publishing industries in Africa, and to formulate strategies that can be employedby governments, donors, banks and lenders, overseas partners and African publishers and their associations.

SK: Over the past 25 years or so, there have been both changes and continuities across different areas of publishing throughoutthe world. In the African context, some of the ‘continuities’ might include things like issues with national policies for text bookprocurement; the need to promote ‘local’ industries in the face of ‘competition’ from multinationals with colonial roots in thecontinent; the economies – sometimes the survival – of African independent publishers, particular book publishers, known generally foroperating with low margins, and now in a digital world; shifting donor priorities. How do you see all this? What are the most urgentpolicy issues, in your view, bearing in mind the diversity of the continent?

EO: African publishers have a number of challenges with their respective governments due to the following reasons: African government seeindigenous publishers as a threat; there is non-adherence of national book policies and procedures by government; the attempt of governmentsto take over textbook publishing in most countries including Tanzania and Rwanda. Unfortunately, governments that should allow publishers tosecure textbook procurement contracts turn and act as publishers in some countries. 

The solution to these unfortunate occurrences is to establish legal backing for national book policies so that no individual in anygovernment office can unduly manipulate the policy against publishers.

Currently, the urgent policy issues are: setting national book policies; formulating legal frameworks for the policies; setting policysupporting the creation of reprographic rights organisations; international copyright law.

SK: How do Northern book donation programmes impact on local publishing industries, in your opinion? 

EO: Northern book donation programmes are helpful to promote literacy in Africa especially donating local content being it textbooks orsupplementary books that children or students can better relate to and understand. Such programmes do not have any adverse effects on thelocal publishing industries in Africa. The fact is, governments, whose mandate is to procure textbooks and supplementary readers frompublishers and distribute to all public schools and libraries, mostly do not buy enough copies to meet the needs of the increased number ofpupils and students across all levels. Most of the time, government books do not get to many rural areas which cannot afford them. InAfrica, children or learners in urban areas are more literate than those in rural areas not because the former are special people. Thedifference is the inequitable distribution of resources to the disadvantaged of rural areas. 

Parents in rural areas are not rich because they rely solely on farm produce which is seasonal. Publishers are business people; they are into make profit and to sustain the knowledge sector. African publishers have the majority of their books sold in urban areas. Sometimes, somegenerous publishers donate to some rural areas. APNET therefore proposes that Northern book donation programmes should focus on rural areas.

SK: APNET is currently located in Ghana which, in my perspective, boasts a relative vibrant research and university communityand an established, if small, publishing industry. How does APNET plan to support and promote such work in Ghana both regionally andinternationally?

EO: The focus of APNET is on Africa. However, we support the work of Ghana by taking some of the books of Ghanaian publishers tointernational book fairs and copyright programmes; exploring providing translation grant opportunities for them; and connecting writers tointernational publishers who are interested in African books. Over the years, some Ghanaian publishers have benefitted from trainingprogrammes organised by APNET. There will be other ways of supporting and promoting work in Ghana regionally and internationally by APNETjust like in other member countries.

SK: APNET founders and board members include representatives from Francophone and North Africa, besides the major ‘Anglophone’countries. Are there plans to assist and promote publishers from the Francophone sphere, which encounter specific problems connected to thedominance of the former colonial power in their industries? 

EO: APNET is very much aware of the challenges encountered by the Francophone publishers to achieve the desired independence from thedominance of the former colonial power in their industries. The Network is helping to formulate the policies outlined above and will help inadvocacy programmes in countries that require them. There are limitations to cross-border movement and trade of books in Francophonecountries unlike in Anglophone countries.

SK: Could you give us a sense of how APNET is currently resourced? From membership dues, aid donors and so forth? Are thecurrent requirements of the organisation being met? Are there plans to expand available resources?

EO: Currently, APNET is resourced by membership dues. Plans are being made to secure aid from donors to expand available resources in orderto fully execute its programmes and initiatives. 

SK: Staying on this point, it’s probably fair to say that European aid donors (DfID, SIDA, UNESCO etc.) have had a mixed recordin their involvement with African publishing since the early 1990s. Good initiatives – such as APNET and the African Books Collective(ABC) as well as specific publishing projects – have been supported in the past. Funding streams can be affected by donor priorities,however, and there have been issues with short-termism and other problems. What seems incontrovertible is that donors should listen toand be informed by practitioners – publishers and their representative bodies – from the continent. Do you agree? How will APNETarticulate the views of its members? 

EO: I certainly agree. European aid donors have supported good initiatives from APNET and ABC in the past as stated. Our members have cometogether with massive interest in the projects of APNET. There is effective sharing of project information with members. I think what APNETintends doing is to approach donors with publishing projects to influence their priorities. 

SK: A linked question is how the African publishing industry will respond to current donor interests in, or requirements for,things like digital editions and open licensing (particularly for children’s books) or Open Access (particularly for journals, promoted,e.g. by UNESCO). These issues are in no sense unique to the African continent, and elsewhere government policies may often clash withacademic or publishing interests. What may be more difficult in Africa however is the historic weakness of the sector versus thedominance of the more powerful Northern donors in policy areas. How should the sector best navigate this?

EO: There should be a well-structured framework to control the actions of publishers, donors and government. I think that when governmentstops procuring children’s books from publishers, should open licensing take effect, or publishes books in open license freely, this wouldcollapse the publishing industry in Africa. As much as we all want especially those who can’t afford books to get free access to books andread, we should not create any economic chasm for publishers. APNET is in the process of putting in sustainable measures to make sure thatthere is mutual benefit. However, it should be noted that APNET is not against open access or open licensing of books but our concern isthat there should be some control measures in order not to kill the publishing industry in Africa. 

SK: There must be value in publishers working together through organisations such as APNET, but disillusionment with donorpolicies may discourage publishers themselves from engaging. How will the association engage its members?

EO: Yes, it is true that the focus of many publishers is to get money. However, the mandate of APNET includes representing members regardingpolicies and publishing projects. Fortunately, international organisations see APNET as the most recognised body to deal with onpublishing/book related issues that transcend to African publishers. The Network has advisory influence on its members and APNET will informits members of anything that will not be beneficial to them. 

SK: What will APNET do to support (in practice) publishing in African languages by African publishers, a long-standing demand,famously articulated by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and more recently by HoraceCampbell at a lecture in Accra. 

EO: To date, the initiative of some individual African publishers publishing educational materials in African languages has been impressive.However, the number of such titles is comparably low especially for fiction. I think first of all, reading interest in fiction by famouswriters – such as Chinua Achebe, Nigeria; Prof. Ama Atta Aidoo, Lawrence Darmani, Meshack Asare, Amma Darko, from Ghana; Ngugi wa Thiong’o,from Kenya – in African languages should be promoted. It is also a fact that Africans have high interest in fiction in English (Anglophone),French (Francophone) and Arabic (Northern/Arab countries). 

Then the next thing is to institute an award scheme to motivate publishers who will publish such famous stories from English, French orArabic into African languages.

SK: Whilst the main focus of APNET is within the African continent, how will the organisation engage internationally, andwhere? I’m thinking here about e.g. supporting its member publishers to trade in important international markets, such as with the US,Europe, China and the Middle East.

EO: APNET used to support some of its members from different member-countries to participate in international book fairs. Now, the Networkis not able to support this because of lack of funds. APNET Secretariat therefore participates in international book fairs with some booksfrom the members and connects foreign publishers who show interest in any African book to its publisher. The Board is also making effortsmeeting with organisations on how best to explore business opportunities for members. Within one year, APNET has participated in theTurkish, Tunis and Abu Dhabi international book fairs. Moreover, the Network will resume its support for member publishers to participate ininternational book markets when it attracts some appreciable funds. 

SK: Finally, how will APNET encourage ‘intra-Africa’ trade: the movement of books across the continent whether in print ordigital form?

EO: I think there should be some training on intra-African trade; building of mutual trust among African publishers and eradication ofregional/national cross-border barriers for books. 

SK: Many thanks for your time, Ernest. I can appreciate from the foregoing you are very busy and invested in many projects! Iwish you and APNET every success in the future.

For further details see www.african-publishers.net

Email: info.africanpublishers(at)gmail.com

Francois van Schalkwyk

African Minds, South Africa

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Stephanie Kitchen talks with Francois van Schalkwyk, of African Minds, South Africa, and a co-author of the report
‘The African University Press’.

September 2017

Stephanie Kitchen (SK): Congratulations on publication of this new research study on the profile of African university presses. How do you see the immediate future for university presses working in the continent?

Francois van Schalkwyk (FvS): Some claim that scholarly book publishing is in trouble. At the same time, new university presses are being established: five recently in the UK, and our research revealed that two flagship universities in Africa – Makerere and Ghana – are in the process of resuscitating their mothballed university presses. Two macro developments can be observed internationally. There are perceptions in academia of ‘robber capitalism’ on the part of the large commercial publishers and there is the emergence (or perhaps return to) a knowledge commons: a new form of social capitalism made possible by the Internet and communication technologies. And on the continent, African researchers and their universities are increasing their research output. Amid these trends, there at least 52 African university presses, in various states of repair, trying to forge ahead. I believe these presses have an important contribution to make to the African knowledge base, if they are conceived appropriately given current challenges and opportunities.

SK: Two of the four case studies you include are from Ethiopia: Addis Ababa and Wollega university presses. Both are insightful and the descriptions are rich. Are there experiences that can be drawn from university press publishing in Ethiopia that might be replicated (or avoided) elsewhere in the continent?

FvS: Common to both is that their host universities are in a public higher education system receiving considerable support from the Ethiopian government relative to other African higher education systems. But we chose them for their differences. Addis Ababa University Press is housed by one of the oldest universities in Africa where norms and practices have been firmly entrenched. Wollega University is one of group of new universities established by the Ethiopian government; and while it is not immune to institutional pressures, it is still finding its niche. Also, it was one of the very few university presses in Africa with any kind of open access publishing policy in place. What we found at Addis Ababa University Press, and was a surprise to us, is an almost exclusive focus on publishing affordable scholarly books in print for the local market. In contrast, Wollega University Press has a more global outlook, and open access publishing extends the reach of their publications. Perhaps what is replicable is diversity by design? At the system level, there could be a more diverse mix of university press types with the less institutionally bound presses being more experimental while the more established presses serve the local market. Naturally, other scholarly publishers not located at universities would be part of this mix.

SK: In an eye-opening section on the publishing practices of academics at Makerere University in Uganda, you show how whilst the academic community may be producing sufficient manuscripts to support a university press, an alarming number of book manuscripts (16/25 or 64% of monographs) are currently being published by vanity or predatory presses (in Germany), whilst a very small minority of books are being published within the continent. No monographs in your sample were published in Uganda. To what extent do you sense this scenario is being replicated in other African countries? 

FvS: I suspect that one would find similar patterns elsewhere, particularly at universities such as Ghana, Nairobi and others where there has been a marked increase in the number of research publications. Certainly, in South Africa research has shown that predatory publishing is a serious concern. 

SK: What steps can be taken to give academics in Africa, such as the group you profile in Uganda, a better chance of legitimate publication? What can be done to achieve a higher rate of publication by publishers based in Africa?

FvS: It is not always clear whether academics are gaming the system or whether they are simply naïve when choosing to publish with predatory publishers. Our research didn’t explore this question and I’m not aware of any other research that has. If it is naïveté on the part of academics, then the number of legitimate publications could be increased by better educating academics on what their publishing options are, and what the risks are should they elect to submit their manuscripts to predatory publishers. I think university presses have a role to play in this regard. I get the sense that they aren’t engaging actively enough with academics at their own universities. 

SK: You appear to remain optimistic about open access publishing for books in Africa, despite finding only one university press to be publishing open access books. You are yourself an open access books publisher with some experience at African Minds and you give examples of other successful open access books programmes in South Africa, notably at the Human Sciences Research Council. Can you summarise the main barriers to achieving a higher rate of open access books publishing elsewhere in the continent and the steps needed to address these?

FvS: The expectation of universities for their presses to be profitable in nascent markets, and not giving consideration to the reputational benefits that a non-market-oriented publishing model could yield, is certainly one such barrier. From our case studies, I would say that both Wits University Press and Nairobi University Press succumb to these expectations. Although Wits University Press has published a few open access books since our research was concluded. It would be instructive to determine how their experimentation with open access came about. At Addis Ababa University Press we came across another barrier – that of its authors’ expectation of receiving royalty payments from the sale of their books. The press couldn’t reconcile open access and the perceived loss of sales income with the royalty expectations of their authors. African Minds is currently exploring a co-publication arrangement with Wits University Press under which African Minds will publish the open access edition and Wits will publish the print edition. Other than the novelty of the co-publication arrangement, it will be interesting to see whether there is any difference between expected and actual sales of the print edition. Beyond these specific barriers, and I am sure there are others, I think there is a general lack of understanding and confidence to experiment when it comes to open access publishing. 

SK: Conversely, you appear more negative about institutional repositories, which presumably can deliver a higher rate of open access for the African continent, including in universities that do not currently have a university press and are unlikely to have one in future (a situation that pertains in institutions beyond Africa). You outline the ‘distortions and unintended consequences’ of repositories comparing them at one point to book donation programmes, which have been shown to distort markets for African publishers. In general terms, where do you think African universities and their funders should be investing: in open access repositories, their own university presses, in establishing third-party publishing arrangements, etc.?

FvS: I am not negative about repositories per se. My concern is that repositories are being seen as a silver bullet when in reality they are part of a broader publishing ecosystem; an ecosystem that consists of institutional repositories, libraries, academic authors, indexing agencies, publishers (both university presses and others), and service providers. I think there are many repositories gathering dust because they were seen as a panacea to making a university’s research output more visible and accessible. 

SK: In your Conclusion, you write: 

Generally speaking, funding is not the main problem facing African university presses. There are other problems, such as outdated employment models, procurement systems, a weak research culture, and inappropriate institutional frameworks that are too bureaucratic … but primarily, it is a matter of being locked into a predominant logic unsuitable to the local context that disables innovation and creates what is seen to be a “funding crisis”.

Firstly, do you accept there may be some resources issues facing at least some of the 52 African university presses in your survey, for example among the majority that have not published in the past 3 years?

FvS: Yes, resources are an issue. But probably not a uniquely African issue. How many university presses outside of Africa wouldn’t want to be better endowed? Perhaps they are not under-resourced to the same degree as university presses in Africa, but I suspect they also face much higher labour and overhead costs. And unlike university presses in Africa, they are unlikely to be able to access financial support from donor organisations – support that could give a university press in Africa the freedom to explore and experiment with new approaches without the expectation of having to generate sales income. The point here is that resources are not the only issue. There is a lack of imagination, of innovative thinking about how to use what limited resources are available. Of course, there are exceptions – Langaa, for example, in its innovative use of volunteers (see interview with Langaa publisher, Francis Nyamnjoh), and Pretoria University Law Pressthat persevered with its open access strategy despite fierce resistance from university management. 

SK: Secondly, as regards university presses in Africa you describe a vicious cycle being in play, or a ‘logic unsuitable to the local context’. How can this be broken? I am thinking for example of strategies such as lesser – or greater – commercialization of university presses. And of alternative publishing models. Can you say briefly what these might look like?

FvS: I think this question has been answered at various points in the answers above. The only thing I would add is that I think university presses and other scholarly book publishers in Africa would benefit from being more connected. Exchanging ideas, sharing challenges, mutually formulating solutions to common problems – these could all contribute to a more confident and dynamic scholarly publishing community across Africa. To this end, we convened in August a small group of scholarly book publishers, loosely referred to as the ‘African Monograph Publishers Network’. The idea is not to set up formal network, and time will tell whether the network will remain active and add value to those publishers who engage in it. What was apparent from the meeting was the value of spending a day together to develop a better understanding of what each publisher does and to share ideas on how to shape the future of scholarly publishing in Africa given the findings of our research. I would also hope that an active network could participate in and contribute to similar initiatives in the Global North such as the Academic Book of the Future project in the UK, and its University Press Redux conference initiative.

SK: As you point out in the report, there remains a dearth of empirical knowledge on academic publishing in Africa. Your report (and the accompanying online datasets) is therefore filling a major gap. What do you identify as being the next priorities for research on academic publishing in the African continent? 

FvS: I would like to see research that focuses on the ‘supply side’ – in other words, on the motivations, incentives and choices of academics in Africa vis-à-vis publishing. Also, research on the broader publishing ecosystem, including non-university press scholarly book publishers and the role of libraries in monograph publishing. Both areas of research would be helpful to develop a more comprehensive overview of the scholarly book publishing landscape in Africa.

Brian Wafawarowa

International Publishers Association

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Brian Wafawarowa has a long history in publishing in South Africa. He was managing director at New Africa Books and has served asChairperson of the Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA), the African Publishers Network (APNET) and is currently on the boardof the International Publishers Association (IPA). He is active in publishing and has a new press, Lefa Publishing and ResearchServices. Brian talks here to Stephanie Kitchen of the International Africa Institute.

March 2019

1. Stephanie Kitchen: Brian Wafawarowa (BW), I know you are working with the International Publishers Association, (IPA), thePublishers Association of South Africa (PASA) and other publishers’ associations from the African continent. You were also a publisheryourself at one time. And you are also a researcher, author and consultant on publishing in the African continent. Could you summarise forreaders of readafricanbooks.com your interesting and varied career to date in African publishing? 

BW: I remain in publishing. As an independent publisher with my own new outfit, Lefa Publishing and Research Services (lefaPRS), I am freeto participate in some of the activities that you have mentioned. It broadens my horizon beyond being employed as a publisher. I started mycareer at Wits University Press in 1994 where I was an intern helping the editors and the publisher with various aspects of their work. Ilater joined Juta as a trainee assistant publisher in 1996 and stayed there till 2000. By then I had become publishing director withresponsibility for Juta education (schools and academic) and the University of Cape Town Press, which is an imprint of Juta. I left in 2000to start New Africa Education (NAE) with New Africa Investment Limited (NAIL). Later I spearheaded the merger of NAE, David Philip andSpearhead to create New Africa Books (NAB) as its managing director. I left NAB in 2009 to become executive director of the PASA. In 2013 Ijoined Pearson South Africa (homes of Heinemann and Longman) as the executive director of Learning Services. I left Pearson in 2017 andstarted lefaPRS, which includes publishing and research services. My career has been much broader, to include significant involvement insector policy and strategy in South Africa, the African continent and the globe. To this end I served as Chairperson of the PublishersAssociation of South Africa (PASA), the African Publishers Network (APNET) and also still serve on the board of the International PublishersAssociation (IPA). I spent a lot of time on literacy and reading programmes like the Exclusive Books Reading Trust and the Nick PerrenPublishing Foundation, where I am a trustee. These foundations build libraries in rural areas and provide scholarships for postgraduatestudies in publishing.

2. SK: how do you see the economic base of the publishing industry – in South Africa, and as far as possible in the continentmore generally? 

BW: The economic base of the industry is quite precarious and erratic at the moment. This is mainly due to over-dependence on schooltextbooks. Education publishing accounts for more than 90% of all publishing in some parts of the continent, while in more mature anddiverse markets like South Africa, it is still quite high, around 70%. Even companies that are in trade and general publishing rely onselling some of their products in the education market. The textbook market is very susceptible to changes in government policy, includingprocurement and copyright, as is being experienced in South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and other countries at the moment.

3. SK: You have carried out research on the contribution of the publishing sector in Africa to GDP. Can you tell us more aboutthis? What is the approximate contribution – of publishing to creative economies, GDP etc. Do you see this growing in the future? 

BW: We do not have reliable information on the continent. There are efforts with WIPO and the IPA to get more reliable figures on thecontinent. Even in South Africa, where the industry is relatively more developed, at approximately R4 billion, contribution to GDP, which isestimated at approximately R4.5 trillion, is insignificant in monetary terms. The publishing sector is part of a small creative industrieseconomy, which is less than 3% of the total economy. At approximately R4 billion, the contribution of the publishing sector is less than 5%of the creative economy. I suspect that the situation is quite similar in other African countries and much direr in some. However, I thinkbeyond contribution to GDP, the industry’s contribution needs to be viewed in terms of its role in critical sectors like education, wheregood textbooks are as important as teachers and lecturers in driving education outcomes. We also need to look at the sector in terms of itsuntapped potential. With a huge and growing youth population and a huge need for education, the book sector has much greater potential forgrowth than has been realised. There are fears in South Africa and in a number of other African countries that new copyright policies, ‘onetextbook’ policies in education procurement, and state publishing will set the industry back and reduce output and employment in the sectorsignificantly. This at a time when there is a strong call for decolonisation of the curriculum and education could be ironic and tragic. 

4. SK: What factors are involved in improving and expanding this economic base? I’m thinking here of copyright regimes,national, regional and international markets, distribution, book fairs and so on. Are there examples of where this is being donesuccessfully? 

BW: Many African countries today have book and reading promotion activities that are aimed at expanding readership and publishing output.These promotions include high level initiatives like the Yaoundé conference organised by WIPO atthe end of 2017 on the economic contribution of the publishing sector to Africa. This was attended by government and industry people frommany African countries. The WIPO initiative has resulted in a number of ongoing programmes that are aimed at improving the African booksector. These include the Publishers Circles and the mentorship programmes. There is also the GlobalBook Alliance (GBA)made up of many book donor communities. It aims to increase the production of more appropriate children’s books by African countries. The IPA helda conference on African publishing in Lagos in 2018. The IPA will be holding its second conference on African publishing in Nairobi thisyear. Out of the Lagos conference came a number of programmes that are being pursued now. These include an industry statistics project, aprogramme to strengthen copyright and a national book policy development project. There are very strong African book fairs today, includingin Ghana, Nairobi, Cairo, Zimbabwe and South Africa. These are backed by strong campaigns and literary festivals like the National Book Weekin South Africa. We also are seeing a strong revival of the African Publishers Network (APNET).It is co-ordinating the activities of many African countries in global programmes and book events. So, there is really a lot going on. Whatis encouraging about these initiatives is that they are backed by real projects that seek to uplift the publishing and book sector. However,as indicated earlier, the policy environment is challenging and paints a rather bleak picture for the future. 

5. SK: what do you see as the key agencies in promoting and developing publishing on the continent – both regional andinternational bodies? How do you see their roles? How can these bodies help promote the sustainability of the African publishingindustry and professional capacity of African publishers? Are there examples or case studies from other parts of the world Africanpublishing can draw on? 

BW: It is regrettable that after years of notable advocacy and capacity building, the African Publishers Network (APNET) and the Pan AfricanBooksellers Association (PABA) went through a major lull and could not carry out their important work. The African book sector will only beviable when it reduces its dependence on textbooks and state procurement, to include general books that are aimed at a reading public. Forthat to be realised we need larger book economies that go beyond national borders along common social interests, fiction, general folkloreand common languages. However, there are many issues that have to be overcome at a continental and regional level. APNET and PABA can play acritical role in resolving some of those regional and sub-regional issues. It is interesting that at multilateral agencies like WIPO,African countries often present one voice in their negotiations with their European, American, Latin American and other regionalcounterparts. These positions are hardly informed by the needs of these sectors back home. APNET and PABA could play a key role in lobbyingAfrican groups before positions are formulated for multilateral engagements. Such views would then be more informed by the situation on theground and the needs of the sector. A clear example of how this has worked well is the role that the Federation of European Publishers (FEP)has played in influencing policy development to the European Union. 

6. SK: it is well known that African publishers are over-dependent on educational publishing (representing some 90% of allpublishing in the continent), which makes them vulnerable to educational and curriculum policy changes, and unable to develop other kinds ofgeneral, academic and literary publishing. What are the reasons for this situation? Are there examples of publishers which have broken withthis cycle and been more successful across other kinds of publishing?

BW: The last 20 years have seen remarkable progress in the production and distribution of education materials. Many centres of excellenceemerged. This includes the East Africa region, including Kenya and Uganda as examples; Southern Africa, including South Africa and Zimbabwe;West Africa, including Nigeria and Ghana; and North Africa, including Egypt and Tunisia. This progress saw a great part of the continentmove away from importing textbook materials to producing them locally. In the majority of cases these are good quality materials that meetthe needs of local education fully. These decades also saw the development of local professional publishers and the establishment of localcompanies. This was buoyed by the development of strong local publishers’ associations, book fairs and regional and sub-regional bookdevelopment organisations like APNET, PABA and the East African Book Development Association. These organisations implemented capacitybuilding programmes that helped professionalise and strengthened local publishing. In some of these countries close to 100% of all booksused in their education sector are produced locally. The gains in education publishing and the various reading campaigns have also improvedgeneral publishing and improved distribution outlets for general readers. Notable achievements in this regard include Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya,South Africa and Zimbabwe, before the current economic and social crisis. Despite this progress, a lot more still has to happen to create anindustry that is less dependent on textbooks and government procurement. These gains are likely to be eroded by negative developments thatare mainly driven by a desire by education authorities to achieve universal access to education materials. This is leading to initiativeslike state publishing, the call for additional exceptions to copyright on education materials and in some cases severe limiting of thenumber of approved titles.

7. SK: At the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair, ‘ProgrammeLettres d’Afrique: changing the narrative’you spoke memorably about a ‘crisis of access’ in education, schools and educational publishing in the African continent; this could alsoarguably characterise the academic sector too. Could you say more about what you meant by this ‘crisis of access’ – its roots, the demandfor universal education and access to materials, which is still primarily through printed books in the case of schools. You also discussedwhat you characterised as ‘negative policy developments’ ensuing from this access crisis as symptoms of what actors are doing wrong. Couldyou elaborate on this?

BW: What I describe as the crisis of access is the feeling and to a great extent the fact that the success of local publishing that Idescribed earlier has not necessarily led to the expected universal coverage of textbooks in the education sector. Governments and educationauthorities are facing huge social pressure for access to services, including education. The part that affects the industry most is accessto textbooks. The education authorities in many African countries today are thinking of changing copyright and procurement laws to enhanceaccess to textbooks. For example the Africa Group on the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) are pushing togetherfor copyright reform that would create greater access to education materials for education, libraries and archives. South Africa has goneahead and created a Bill that seeks among other things to achieve this. In the publishing area, both South Africa and Rwanda are close tostate publishing while other countries like Cameroon and Kenya are implementing one textbook policies. The problem is that additionalexceptions which weaken copyright protection for greater access to education undermine the base of the African education publishing sector.The argument is often that these exceptions are only for education. Yet, with education accounting in many cases for more than 90% of thebook sector, there is very little left outside education. On the other hand, state publishing and one textbook policies will also negativelyaffect the education publishing sector. State publishing has the potential to wipe out education publishing while one textbook policies willcertainly reduce the commercial space for education publishers. Although this is aimed at education books, it will have ripple effects forthe whole publishing sector. Developments in both copyright and textbook procurement pose a serious challenge to the viability of theAfrican education publishing sector and the continent’s ability to produce suitable education materials for local education. 

8. SK: Continuing on these policy developments, would you say some more about the Copyright Amendment Bill in South Africa?What’s at stake here? It strikes me that all who are concerned with publishing and knowledge production in Africa, sometimes now framedin terms of ‘decolonisation’, need to be alert to and engage with these developments.

BW: The Copyright Amendment Bill is the result of a comprehensive legislative process that has been on the cards for a long time. Amongother objectives, it seeks to enhance access to education materials by allowing additional exceptions to copyright protection on educationmaterials, including in the schools and post-schools sector. It also seeks to regulate collecting societies and to enhance the benefits ofcopyright protection for authors and creators. The Bill has many positive elements but also some very problematic provisions for rightsholders and creators, especially the fair use provision for education. Publishers and authors have issues with the content of the Bill andalso the process followed. For example a law with such huge potential implications needs to have an impact assessment done on it, but thereis none. The only one that was commissioned by the Publishers’ Association with PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) indicates that the sector willbe adversely affected with reduced output, loss of income and significant job losses. It also points out that local production and exportswill suffer and imports are likely to increase. Rights holders argue that their inputs were disregarded on critical issues and that the Billis at odds with international copyright statutes. On the other hand, advocates of greater access for education find a lot of positives withthe Bill, especially around greater access to education materials through the fair use provisions. The Bill also lumps together quite anumber of very different sectors, including music and book publishing without looking into the nuances of each. The parliamentary committeethat was working on the Bill has passed it and it is now waiting to go through the National Council of Provinces legislators before it issigned into law. There is a strong chance that it will be challenged in the constitutional court. It is ironic that a bill that started withthe objective of ensuring that authors benefit more from their work is very likely to result in reduced income for them and is also likelyto result in reduced local production of content and a concomitant increase in imports. If this happens, as feared, it will have taken theindustry back many years. I analyse the contradiction of the Bill’s attempt to empower authors and enhance access at the same time in thisextensive article, ‘Copyright reform: Carrying water and fire in the same mouth’ published by the DailyMaverick earlierthis year. Local knowledge production and publishing are part and parcel of the decolonisation discourse. If the local sector is underminedlike this, it will be a setback for the decolonisation agenda too. If the campaigners for the decolonisation of curricula want to go beyondrhetoric and slogans, these developments should concern them too. 

9. SK: What are ‘open educational resources’? What are these in an African context?

BW: Open Education Resources (OERs) are freely available and freely licensed education materials, including textbooks, text, media,photographs, digital assets and other materials that aid teaching and learning. In some cases, they include full courses and assessmenttools. Given the greater need for education materials in Africa, the idea of OERs is quite appealing to educators and policy makers.Initially I think OERs were oversold as solutions for access to education materials and an effective substitute for textbooks but it lookslike there is a realisation that most of the OERs are not especially designed as curriculum management and implementation tools, the sameway that textbooks are. While they are suitable as supplementary tools, they cannot substitute a good textbook. There is greater realisationamong educators and publishers in Africa that traditional textbooks and OERs can complement each other. For example, in South Africa theDepartment of Basic Education has created a healthy mix of commercially produced textbooks, OERs and state published supplementarymaterials. This mix up to this point has not harmed the publishing industry. I think publishers have over the last few years come to termswith OERs and the role they can play in education, and do not perceive them as big a threat as they thought initially.

10. SK: Stepping beyond the African context for a few moments, publishing in Africa is, of course, integrated into globalmarkets and technologies. There are intense debates elsewhere on the likely effects of the so-called ‘platform economies’ (searchengines and the like) on research and publishing economies and how academia and the publishing industries should respond and positionthemselves. What’s at stake for African publishers in all this? What are the risks? Are there ways publishers in Africa can takeadvantage of such economies? I’m thinking for example of harnessing them for efficient distribution of unique and hard to accesscontent. 

BW: Many attempts to launch e-learning and learning platforms in many parts of the continent, including South Africa, have met significantchallenges. These challenges include infrastructural and bandwidth problems, security for learners who become targets of criminals who wanttheir devices and teacher reluctance to adopt new ways. Despite these, it is clear that the “platform economies” are the future andtraditional publishers need to gear themselves for this and participate in the promotion of e-learning, digital content and distribution.Many content aggregators are joining the book sector and beginning to play a significant role in the distribution of content, especially ineducation. However, a new business model needs to be developed as a matter of urgency. The efficacy of digital content and e-learning andtheir potential to improve learning outcomes in a region where this is a priority is not questionable but the economics of it remains achallenge. The transition is taking too long and costing education authorities a lot more. Due to the hesitancy to move on to e-learning anddigital content in education, the majority of schools and colleges remain in the dual medium and are spending on both digital and printcontent, for example. On the other hand, publishers are finding it difficult to implement new business models in this dual mediumenvironment. The result is that the expected savings of digital are not being realised. This compounds the crisis of access that I mentionedearlier. The new business model needs to be informed by a reconfiguration of the different roles that traditional publishers and platformand conduit operators play. Platform operators should not undermine the role that rights holders play, in an attempt to assert their ownrole in education. One of the key contentions around the copyright Bill in South Africa is the fear that fair use provisions will allowplatform owners to use rights holders’ content without compensation. Indeed, one of the fears that policy makers have is the restrictionthat copyright protection will have on education materials in the digital era. The belief is that digital will open up access to content,but copyright will restrict that access. That polarity is not helpful at all. Platform operators can play a vital role in the distributionof content and management of content while publishers can continue to develop content and enhanced digital content that can improve learningoutcomes.