The disparity in two libraries 2km apart has reemphasised the great divide between rich and poor that still exists in South Africa, writes Glenda Daniels
Adorned with statues, paintings, cushions, couches, even rag dolls, the state-of-the- art Sandton library is spotlessly clean and air-conned, with colourful furniture, carpets and pot-plants galore. The soothing sounds of Bach greet you at the reception desk.
Just 2km away, the Alexandra library is over-crowded – with pupils, not furniture – and many of the shelves are depressingly empty. While there are chairs and desks, there are not enough for the children who filter in every day to prepare for exams, which are now in progress. “We have kids squatting on the floor trying to revise for exams, because there is not enough furniture. However, we are expecting more desks and chairs this week,” says Shamba Khumalo, the head librarian.
The clich’ of the divide in the country between one of the poorest townships and one of the wealthiest suburbs is evident in the two libraries. And as South Africa draws closer to local government elections, the two main parties will battle it out to get votes from people in Alexandra whose lives have not changed much over the past five years.
Aside from Alex’s lop-sided shacks, dirt on the roads, smoke in the air and stench from the river, its library is one indication of neglect – of the fact that not nearly enough resources have been sent in to develop the community.
The Alex library has 15 000 books and the Sandton library has 99 000, says Johan Fourie, librarian at Sandton. Five years ago, he adds, Alex had only a mobile library bus.
Numbers aren’t everything. Khumalo says: “We have received many donations of books from overseas but you should see the quality. It was rubbish.”
But isn’t the solution as simple as Alex children using the fancy and well-resourced Sandton library?
All the Alex pupils the Mail & Guardian spoke to this week said that transport costs are the killer that prevents them from access to the Sandton library. All municipal libraries have the same annual fee of R30, but transport to and from Sandton is not affordable. “We don’t have R8 a day to travel to the Sandton library. It’s really nice there, not crowded, and it has more books. The government has done nothing for us in Alex. There’s crime, shacks, the river stinks and there’s unemployment. I wish I lived in Sandton or Fourways,” said Claudia Khumalo, a standard nine pupil from Minerva High School.
“Alex is not a local government problem, it’s a national issue. My passion is for small libraries. We are trying to upgrade the existing library in Alex, so that kids don’t have to pay to get to Sandton. It’s dangerous with the taxis,” says Bongi Mokaba, executive officer for community services for libraries, arts and culture, community health, social services, urban environment sports, parks and recreation in the Eastern Metropolitan Local Council. “The plan is to reduce the budget of big libraries to make more money available to small libraries. Disparities won’t disappear overnight. We need more money for the transformation process.” The Alex library serves an ever-growing community – there’s a constant influx of people from former bantustans and illegal immigrants, she says.
An Alex resident and local government official confides that the situation in the township is so bad he believes there will be a low turn-out at the polls in December.
There were very few people in Alex queuing to register last month for the local government elections – about 20, he says. “Most people in Alex have no interest in voting because councillors have not delivered. Our lives have not changed. There is litter everywhere, unemployment and crime are high and people’s shacks still get washed away in floods. In fact, the Democratic Alliance (DA) might end up getting support just because the people are fed up with the [African National Congress].”
Mike Moriarty, leader of the DA in Johannesburg and mayoral candidate, says the council has to reprioritise its budget to make more money available for Alex. “The council gets R7-billion a year and this money is not correctly spent. To create employment you need education and skills. It’s pointless putting up factories when there are no skilled people. That’s why education is so important and libraries have to be prioritised.”
The problem with Alex, he says, is that it is “the highest density area in the country and probably in the world. Delivery has got to start happening. “Alex is a mess. This council has allowed streets and general repairs and maintenance to go to pot. One way is to get people out of the shacks and for more housing development to take place on the Far East Bank.
“The reality is that voters will stay away from the polls, but we will get more votes and the ANC majority will diminish. If we get more votes we will run Johannesburg and we will deliver.”
The ANC’s Saul Cohen, deputy chair of the executive council of the Eastern Metropolitan Local Council, echoes the DA’s view when he says “you need education to change the unemployment situation”.
He concedes that the Alex library needs more attention but feels a more creative way of looking at the chasm between Alex and Sandton is to use current resources more effectively. Sandton should become more accessible to children from Alex. “Alex library is over-utilised and the Sandton one under-utilised. It’s not about building a bigger library for Alex but rather about how to share resources and perhaps optimise the use of Sandton.”
Could the council provide free transport to Sandton for struggling Alex learners? “Yes, that is an idea to think about,” Cohen agrees.
Meanwhile, as Alex pupils revise for exams, they are struggling to make do with too few resources; and as local government elections approach, the mood of frustration among young and old will not disappear unless promises of delivery are kept.