The Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) in North West on Tuesday, demanded that the Moretele local municipality clarify and account on the status of the Mphe-Batho library in Makapastad.
“It came to our attention as EFF NW, that Mphe-Batho Library that is situated in Dertig Village, Makapastad in Moretele municipality, does not comply with the library’s services norms and standards, and also the working condition of employees in that library are not conducive as it might endanger their lives as employees there, and not only employees also community as users of this library,” said provincial spokesman Thabo Sehloho.
The department of culture, arts and traditional affairs handed-over the library project to the municipality for construction at R4.5 million and general administration after completion in March 2012.
“The ceiling once collapsed and damage some library materials… Why the contractor who was responsible for building this library does not account for all the faults of the building?” he asked.
On Monday, the North West Legislature Education Committee called on the municipality to account on the library.
This followed the committee’s oversight visit to the library where it discovered that it does not comply with the relevant norms and standards.
Some of problems found were unavailability of ordinary library services such as reference services, free public internet connection, educational material, audio materials, outreach programme.
There was also no electricity and building certificate to confirm that the library meets the norms and standards and there were continuous electricity cuts due to improper wiring, and also staff shortages.
“The conditions that the staff operates in are very inhumane and dangerous for their lives. Lot of services are not provided such as public internet access services; book preservation; the security system and there is no air-conditioning yet there are no consequences,” said committee chairperson Boitumelo Moiloa.
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