These readers said they had complained about the poor service at the library, even before the Covid-19 lockdown, and the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation promised it would rectify the problems. The toilets are leaking, the grass is overgrown, the parking lot roof covers are worn out, and the outside area is dirty and littered. The computers do not work sometimes and when members of the public want to make hard copies, they do not have toner for the photocopier. One of the complainants, Kara Phelan, said she visited the public library in Mbombela and, upon her arrival, the situation was disappointing.

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“The place was filthy with dead insects lying everywhere. Books were covered in dust and lying on the floor and the shelves were in a mess. There was no toner in the printer, and I was told that we couldn’t take out books because we are new members and the staff needed to make hard copies of the required documents. Apparently, they have been without ink for weeks,” she said.

  Geraldine Phelan said this much-loved place of old was not maintained and is now, like most public places in our town, in a shocking state. Marlene Olivier said she did not even think the library operated anymore, because, just from the outside, it looked terrible. To her this was a sad state of affairs, because it used to be in its prime in its heyday. Sbongile Nkosi, a spokesperson for culture, sport and recreation, stated that it has taken note of the users’ concerns and that the matters were receiving attention.

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“The issue of the toner has been addressed, taking into consideration the high number of users. The staff at the library waited for the delivery of the toner, which has since arrived. Regarding the books, the staff at the library were busy with stocktaking, which is the reason why books were on the floor,” she said. Nkosi also said a cleaner is employed at the library to clean it, and a groundsman to cut the grass on a regular basis. However, these employees do not work on weekends. This matter has been addressed with the manager of the library.