In the past five years, libraries in the province have incurred over R20 million in damages as a result of robberies and vandalism.
This came to light following a parliamentary question by DA MPP Gillion Bosman who asked Culture Affairs and Sport MEC, Anroux Marais, how many libraries have been vandalised and robbed over the past five years, what the costs of the damages were and what was being done to reduce incidents.
In total, 416 incidents were recorded across the province. The total cost incurred amounted to R27 636 476 in damages.
Incidents included alarms and camera systems being vandalised; electrical equipment and computers stolen; damaged books; broken windows; stolen lights; vandalised air-con pipes; building set alight and more.
In her response, Marais said in instances of vandalism, notifications are created to repair the building and those repairs are sometimes made null and void again during subsequent incidents at the same library. To reduce a re-occurrence of incidents, hardening of facilities had been identified, as well as the need for an increase in security guards.
Marais’s spokesperson, Tania Colyn added that: “The libraries are looking at additional security measures like CCTV and alarm systems.
“We do call on communities to take ownership of their local libraries and to help us protect them. We need the communities to stand with us in keeping these important resources safe as when we have to spend budget on repairing buildings and replacing losses, we lose out on using that money to build a new library for another community.
Libraries are important safe spaces, especially for youth and we urge communities to help us protect these precious assets.”
In Delft, where at least 23 incidents had been recorded over the period, CPF chairperson Charles George said they had seen an improvement with the introduction of increased security.
“The community started complaining because every time there was an incident of vandalism there was no access and children used the facility. Children especially use it for internet access for doing school projects online, the facility is very important. So they started to increase security and the neighbourhood watch made the civic their base as well, this has helped a lot,” George said.
Bosman said: “R27 million is a lot of money, and it is money that could have been used to bring more services to our communities but unfortunately crime continues to leech funding from the provincial government.”
Cape Times