Millions wasted as Joburg City Library still remains closed

Thick dust has settled on books, shelves and tables, only one escalator works and white paint is peeling off the roof due to water leaks, causing holes.

At the African Student Collection section of the Johannesburg City Library, which stores a valuable collection of books by Haile Selassie, Carlos Cardoso and Alan Paton, there is a bigger uncovered hole.

It is testimony to the four years of neglect of the city’s unmaintained crown jewel.

Library the scene of an oversight visit

Gauteng’s biggest source of information for students and the public yesterday became the subject of an intense discussion with senior city council officials being quizzed by DA law-makers on an oversight visit.

Responding to a barrage of questions – from DA Gauteng shadow MEC for sport, arts, culture and recreation Kingsol Chabalala, shadow MMC for community development in the City of Joburg Lyrics Mazibuko, councillor Alex Christians, Flo Bird from the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and Johannesburg Crisis Committee member Zarina Motali – Joburg Development Agency executive manager Siya Genu and community development official Stan Mlambo were under pressure.

Bird charged: “You did not realise that the library is so important to the people. We have a large illiterate population in Gauteng who depended on this library.

“I want to know the budget that you are putting in now. I am coming to the workshop next week and we want to see written down in simple English a breakdown of the budget.

“We want to see the five compliances (Emergency Management Services regulations) so the place can be opened.

“I hope we are not spending millions on consultants. You spent a lot of money last year and the previous year on people who were supposed to fix the leak three times – and they never fixed anything. Unbelievable,” Bird said.

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‘Pointless to open while water gushing in’

Genu responded: “If you were to see the damage the water has caused… We had to make sure that we protected the material inside the library.

“It was pointless to open the library when the water is gushing in.

“We wanted to avert more damage by preventing more water from coming into the facility. This was a health hazard.”

Bird: “But you could have kept the library open. There was no reason to keep people out of the library. You could have worked on the roof without locking the doors.

“Your wife would not move out of your home and stay in a hotel because you are cleaning gutters.”

Mlambo said: “Everyone is working around the clock for a partial opening. But we want to protect our precious assets – books and everything here.”

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Millions of Rands down the drain

City of Joburg councillor Bongani Nkwanyana referred to three previous financial years “when you were given R5 million, R10 million the following year and R11 million in 2023 and now you have R54 million.

“In the contract that you signed, do you have a date of completion and handing over of the project?”

Other DA councillors expressed concern that the library had served university students, who now had no reference facility.

Genu and Mlambo promised there would be a “partial opening of the library in six months’ time”.

ALSO READ: R23 million Joburg library still closed after three years