This is his childhood home.

At that time, he did not own a single book.

Now 36, he is the head of this bookstore-library that he created upstairs.

He launched the business four years ago with around thirty books from his personal collection, hundreds of donations followed.

The stacks hold bestsellers like 'Everything Falls Apart' by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and national treasures such as 'Mhudi' by Sol Plaatje, the first English-language novel by a black South African.

"Books allow you to slip into someone else's shoes," the thin-faced man told AFP.

"I want people to come here and be transported elsewhere."

Out of school, he had left the township to settle in a then white suburb of Johannesburg.

He lived in a house filled with books with members of his artistic family.

It was there that he developed an insatiable appetite for reading, dragging his books to the reggae club he was a regular at.

He gradually began a personal collection, which he brought with him when he returned to settle in the township on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

Some, who could not afford books, then began to borrow one, then two.

This is how the Soweto Book Cafe began.

Today, Thami Mazibuko sells books to those who have the money.

Others can subscribe for just over three euros a year (50 rand) to borrow.

Even if in reality, he lends books to almost anyone who asks him.

Sindisiwe Zulu at the Book Cafe in Soweto, April 5, 2022 EMMANUEL CROSET AFP

"That's one of the reasons why I created this place: literacy and giving access to books and information, a fundamental human right", claims the enthusiast.

"I do not know how to read"

The Book Cafe regularly hosts a reading group of around fifty young people, called "La lecture c'est super cool".

Aged four to sixteen, the older ones read to the little ones and the bookseller also introduces them to board games or chess.

Sindisiwe Zulu, 27, initially pitched the idea to help her struggling niece.

The latter had confessed to him: "I can't read, I don't understand anything, that's why I'm failing".

The circle then widened little by little.

Small neighborhood bookstores like these have been on the rise during the strict Covid lockdown, which closed public libraries for more than a year.

A survey revealed ten years ago that Johannesburg had 1,020 bookstores, only five less than Paris and many more than New York.

Most are full of second-hand books, like Mazibuko's bookstore.

He particularly likes to focus on African literature and sometimes organizes launches and readings.

But above all, it offers a safe space in the neighborhood: "I come here to do my homework, read and relax", says Anele Ndlovu, 14, a regular.

"This is where I like to think about what I want in life", continues the young girl who dreams of becoming a trader.

Anele Ndlovu at the Book Cafe in Soweto on April 5, 2022 EMMANUEL CROSET AFP

For the moment, she is immersed in a thriller by Michael Connelly, but then she will read "books that teach life".

© 2022 AFP