National library litigation costs jump to R1.8m

In a statement, Minister Nathi Mthethwa said there was a serious jump from 2017, where litigation costs were around R71,000.

Minister of Sport, Nathi Mthethwa, has expressed his satisfaction with the work done by the interim board of CSA. Picture: CISMedia

The minister of sport, arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa said he was concerned about the number of litigations, labour disputes and costs incurred by the National Library of South Africa over the last three years.

In a statement, Mthethwa said there was a serious jump from 2017, where litigation costs were around R71,000. In 2018, it jumped to more than R1,807,000.

Mthethwa said: “Following my observation of this trend I engaged the board of the national library of South Africa about the matter. Among the problems, the board identified was the usage of one legal firm for disciplinary matters.

“The board then resolved that management must terminate the contract of the sole service provider and put a panel of attorneys together to be used by NLSA on a competitive basis for all the future legal matters.”

The minister said he has received reassurance from the board that they have restored the process of managing and conducting disciplinary process internally.

They have implemented measures where staff are trained to preside over the disciplinary process and all new disciplinary matters have to be conducted internally in line with the approved national library disciplinary procedure.

(Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele)

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