Open or shut: library in limbo
Joburg’s repository of knowledge stays closed for unclear reasons
The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF) is threatening to protest outside the Joburg City Library in an attempt to get answers as to why the 89year-old building remains closed to the public.
The protest, if it goes ahead, will most likely take place on May 1, and will be directed at the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
“We don’t know why they insist on the library remaining absolutely closed until the 2025 budget year or even further. We are still waiting for additional material from them,” says JHF chair David Fleminger. “We are not getting any reply or action and we are just going to have to keep kicking and screaming, I am afraid.”
The JHF’s call for the JDA to provide this material comes just more than a month after a site visit to the city’s central library. Together with city representatives, the JHF brought along an architect, an engineer and a fire expert.
“Our opinion is that there is nothing structurally unsound with the building and it is perfectly safe for human occupation,” says Fleminger. The only problem the experts found was that the fire-suppression system had been only partially installed. However, they estimated it would take only three months to install the system properly.
The library was closed in May 2021 after a preliminary status report found a number of structural issues. In a statement from the JDA, further defects were later identified, which at the time “altered the initial scope of work significantly”. One of the defects highlighted was roof leaks.
“They are of the opinion that the roof needs to be fixed before it is safe. We found that it is not damaging the collections nor is it endangering human lives,” says Fleminger.
The JHF has pointed out that so far there have been three attempts to fix the leaks by three different contractors. It requested that no more money be spent on this until the JHF makes its recommendations.
But before it could make these recommendations, the JHF requested documents related to the closure and construction work at the library. This, according to a statement by the foundation, is so that its experts can “prepare a proper response to the city’s stated intention to keep the library closed until the 2025 budget year”.
“We finally received some of the information that we requested from the JDA. But we are still waiting for a few more details before we can revert with a proper plan,” says Fleminger.
As yet the agency has not given a date for when the construction is expected to be completed.
In a recent statement, the JDA said extensive work still needs to be undertaken to make the building compliant with safety regulations, and this would be “implemented through a multiyear budget allocation. The building cannot be open to the public until all the safety concerns are adequately addressed.”
DA shadow mayoral committee member for community development Bongani Nkwanyana says he has tried everything to find out when the library will reopen, but has not been successful.
“But the statement that they made that it would not open in the next three to four years, that still stands,” he says. What also concerns him is that whenever he has visited the building, no construction was taking place.
Fleminger says the JHF wants the library opened as quickly as possible and is willing to help the JDA to do this. “The library remains an important facility for the people of Joburg and researchers. There is material in the library that you can’t get anywhere else and that is why we are pushing them.”