Relief that Johannesburg Public Library eventually open but sad that you cannot visit the library on Saturdays

And so, while many will be happy that this essential public facility is now open for their use and enjoyment, this is like giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

When I heard that the Johannesburg Library in Johannesburg CBD, whose doors to the disappointment of many were under lock and key for five years, with little information communicated by the city fathers why it was that way, was to eventually open its doors to the public, I was intrigued.

To start with there should not have been a reason to close such a facility for that long, an important resource to the public. Secondly It was to open on a public holiday, March 21, 2025, Human Rights Day. In fact, when news filtered through that it was going to eventually flunk its doors wide open for book lovers, researchers and students to enjoy this facility, I first doubted the veracity of such news.

However, it became clear that it was to be so as days went by. I then told myself that I was going to visit the library on that day. But not during the festivities that were to take place during the morning hosted by the mayor. I chose to go there when it would be quiet. I wanted to experience the space in a sort of surreal way. After all this used to be my haunt in the 90s, just like it was for many that benefitted from this important resource. But that is before the people we put in council decided that was not much of a necessity and closed it for the whole five years.

Reason that was given, in fact too late when the public got waked up and complained, was that the space had to undergo renovations. There is no quarrel about that as old buildings, such as the Johannesburg Library’s building, constructed many months ago, always need constant monitoring and renovating.

But in this case, the council communicated very badly about the closure and the reason for such a drastic action for an important resource such as the library.

When I went to the library, and was able to view a few sections that were open, while others will be opened in a phased fashion as the renovations progress, I found nobody, except the staff, who were actually friendly and seemed genuinely happy that the library was eventually open to the public.

“You can go to the first and second floor. Those sections are open, while the rest are not yet open as you will appreciate that we are not fully operational yet,” one such staff member I found at the entrance said. I was the only person in the library at 1pm on that day, as the crowd that had come, left the moment the mayor and the festivities ended, I learned later.

I was able to savour unbothered, the music section, which interestingly is still well stocked on the first floor. It even has an impressive cool classical music collection, my favourite type of music.

When done I went down to the reference library to check on the books there, my other favourite section. My eyes lingered on the children’s section for a short time, before settling on the African Writers’ section. I immediately saw familiar names in literature.

An old copy of Zakes Mada’s the whale caller, which clearly needs a replacement copy as it appears to have been overused by book lovers, which is a good thing though, caught my eye, and so did Jo-Anne Richards’ my BROTHER’S BOOK and Achmat Dangor’s Town Trilogy. These are indeed a treasure trove that unfortunately have been denied to book lovers for the whole five years that the library had closed its doors to the public for really no plausible reason.  

The opening seems to have been rushed though, obviously under pressure from civic society and literature activists demanding the right for public access to this essential resource. Even as I walked around, I could tell that the renovations are still in progress with the only thing visible that has been half-accomplished being the escalators, and so it appeared. There might be more ‘hidden’ repairs that are not obvious to a none architect or builder I admit.

But for the fact that the library was only opened when activists made noise, creating awareness campaigns and organising marches about the closure of the library makes it even harder to believe that the so-called renovations needed to take five years to partially open the library.

But of course, it is better to partially open than not opening at all, granted. But the sad news though is that the Johannesburg Public Library, just like all the other libraries belonging to the City of Johannesburg in the suburbs and townships, will remain closed on Saturdays, a traditionally very important day for the public to visit the library.

Apparently, the mayor while answering a question to a member of the public, confirmed this to be the case, while explaining away this mis-shape as necessitated by a labour dispute between the city and library workers over the issue of compensation for working on Saturdays.

This is really ridiculous as traditionally libraries, particularly the Johannesburg Public Library have been busiest on Saturday when people are not working and use that time to go to the library. And so, while many will be happy that this essential public facility is now open for their use and enjoyment, this is like giving with one hand and taking away with the other. This is indeed sad.