Dear Editor
The decision to relocate Parkside Library in Buffalo City Metro from its current site to Parkside Hall has raised urgent concerns about service delivery, sustainability, and community access.
This relocation plan comes after years of repeated burglaries at the library, with at least five break-ins recorded annually between 2019 and 2024. The impact of this sustained vandalism has been devastating for the community.
A library that should serve as a safe centre of learning has instead become a symbol of neglect, leaving residents without reliable access to educational resources.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply concerned that the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture has allowed the situation to deteriorate to this point. The department’s approach of repeatedly allocating significant maintenance funds to a vandalised facility has drained resources from other libraries in Buffalo City, which remain underfunded and neglected.
See IQP response
Buffalo City Metro currently receives R17.88 million from the provincial government for library services. Yet despite this, a site visit to the Parkside Library revealed little evidence of meaningful upgrades.
Other than a relatively new fence, the building remains a hollow shell after an interior fire several years ago. This raises troubling questions about how the allocated funds were spent and whether long-term sustainability was ever considered.
Equally troubling is the practicality of the proposed relocation. A site visit to Parkside Hall confirmed that municipal offices or the hall itself would need to be sacrificed to accommodate the library.
Without proper consultation or planning, this plan risks undermining both the hall’s existing role as a community facility and the library’s purpose as an accessible hub of knowledge.
The DA will oppose this relocation until a full justification and cost breakdown is provided.
I have written to DSRAC MEC, Sibulele Ngongo, to demand that the Department reconsiders the relocation of the library and provide a detailed justification and cost breakdown for this move. The Department must also engage with residents and library staff to identify sustainable alternatives, and urgent steps must be taken to strengthen security at libraries across the Metro that are vulnerable to vandalism and theft.
We will also be tabling follow-up parliamentary questions to the MEC on the library, and local councillors will submit Notice of Questions to determine Buffalo City’s budget allocations and plans for this move.
Libraries are not just buildings. They are vital centres of literacy, learning, and opportunity. Communities deserve spaces that are safe, functional, and accessible, not plans that shift problems from one location to another.
The DA will continue to fight for equitable, accountable, and transparent management of library services in Buffalo City. The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that delivers, and a future built on dignity, opportunity, and honest government.
Regards
Leander Kruger MPL
DA Shadow MEC for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture