The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance have welcomed the news that the Johannesburg Library will be partly reopened on Friday.
“It is appropriate that this is taking place on Human Rights Day, as access to information is a fundamental human right as enshrined in our constitution,” the organisations said in a joint statement.
They said they were eagerly awaiting the full reopening of the library in central Johannesburg towards the middle of the year.
“The staggered reopening is long overdue, following an extended five-year closure which severely affected the local community, students, researchers, academics, and so on.”
They said the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Development Agency were slow to respond to the initial closure of the library and failed to show the necessary sense of urgency until the organisations organised a public protest and petition in May last year.
When announcing the phased reopening in January, the city said construction began in September 2024, starting with internal electrical reticulation, followed by upgrades to the air-conditioning and heating systems.
The organisations said in the interests of transparency, they would continue to call on the authorities to make public the cost of repairs so far — especially those expenses incurred between 2020 and March 2024 when the work being done seemed to have little to do with the actual reasons for the closure, which were fire code violations flagged by the emergency management services.
“We also call on the authorities to move with urgency to reopen the several branch libraries that remain closed. These include the Louisa Prince Library in Ennerdale, the Protea North Library in Soweto, the Southdale Library in Robertsham, the Brixton Library, and the Murray Park Library in Jeppestown.
“Each one of these facilities plays an important role as a ‘third place’, that is, not a home or workplace, that can foster a sense of community and learning, promote social interaction, and contribute to a more vibrant and engaged citizenry.”
TimesLIVE
Organisations welcome partial reopening of Johannesburg Library
Authorities urged to reopen the several branch libraries that remain closed
Image: Alaister Russell
The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance have welcomed the news that the Johannesburg Library will be partly reopened on Friday.
“It is appropriate that this is taking place on Human Rights Day, as access to information is a fundamental human right as enshrined in our constitution,” the organisations said in a joint statement.
They said they were eagerly awaiting the full reopening of the library in central Johannesburg towards the middle of the year.
“The staggered reopening is long overdue, following an extended five-year closure which severely affected the local community, students, researchers, academics, and so on.”
They said the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Development Agency were slow to respond to the initial closure of the library and failed to show the necessary sense of urgency until the organisations organised a public protest and petition in May last year.
When announcing the phased reopening in January, the city said construction began in September 2024, starting with internal electrical reticulation, followed by upgrades to the air-conditioning and heating systems.
The organisations said in the interests of transparency, they would continue to call on the authorities to make public the cost of repairs so far — especially those expenses incurred between 2020 and March 2024 when the work being done seemed to have little to do with the actual reasons for the closure, which were fire code violations flagged by the emergency management services.
“We also call on the authorities to move with urgency to reopen the several branch libraries that remain closed. These include the Louisa Prince Library in Ennerdale, the Protea North Library in Soweto, the Southdale Library in Robertsham, the Brixton Library, and the Murray Park Library in Jeppestown.
“Each one of these facilities plays an important role as a ‘third place’, that is, not a home or workplace, that can foster a sense of community and learning, promote social interaction, and contribute to a more vibrant and engaged citizenry.”
TimesLIVE
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