From vandalism to unfilled critical posts due to a jobs freeze, the Buffalo City Metro's annual report for the 2022/2023 financial year has painted a grim picture of the state of the city's libraries.
For four years, libraries in Buffalo City have been operating at a R25m annual deficit due to underfunding by the department of sport, recreation, arts & culture and on August 25, BCM council approved a motion to ask DSRAC for R45m per annum to address this. The motion includes the political intervention of the BCM executive mayor and that an increase in funding must also come with an annual escalation clause.
Within 10 months the department of education in KwaZulu-Natal accumulated a staggering R468m worth of debt, owed to municipalities for services such as water, electricity, sewage and refuse collection.