ADDRESS BY MEC
MNS MANANA DURING THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF SILINDILE LIBRARY
29 MARCH 2011
Programme
Director
Executive Mayor
of Msukaligwa Municipality: Clr Vilakazi
Councillors
present here
Inkosi Malaza and
other traditional leaders
Government
Officials
Invited Guests
Ladies and
Gentleman
Today we gather
here to mark another milestone in the programme of government of
delivering services to its people. This event takes place six weeks
before the local government elections scheduled for 18 May 2011. Our
people shall be exercising one of their hard fought right on the day
and cast ballot choosing their preferred candidates and party. As we
do that I would to appeal that be responsible in our conduct and
behaviour.
The ability of
a nation to use and create knowledge as capital determines its
capacity to empower and enable its citizens by increasing human
capabilities. The role of libraries in our communities cannot be
overemphasised. By their very essence libraries either have an
intrinsic value as an end in themselves or more commonly they are a
resource that serves the wider population. As a result of this,
libraries must serve in measurable and tangible ways that respond to
targeted investment and expected outcomes.
The culture of learning must
take the central place in our lives because information is power.
The library is above all a place for learners, whether individually,
in groups or in families. It is the resource centre, the place- both
physical and online, for the independent learner. However, the
digitisation not just of materials but of the learning process
itself is evolving and we must make sure that we remain relevant and
up to date.
Government is
providing these kinds of services so that our communities can be
empowered with relevant information for them to be able to make
proper planning and take sound decision. Others would say
information is power and undoubtedly, government need to be praised
for increasing access to our communities.
Programme
Director, libraries matter to the matter to people. Even those who
do not use them regularly care about what happens to them because
they recognise what they stand for, that they exist to ensure that
everyone has access to the knowledge, books and information they
need to help them enjoy and make a success of their lives.
Notwithstanding
the above, we have experienced the burning down of libraries in the
past. It is evident that the need to educate our people on the
importance of libraries cannot be underestimated. A library provides
a universal nature of service that is free and open to all, giving
access to knowledge, information and entertainment available in
print, digital and audio forms. Proper and adequate use of this
service yield positive outcomes such as improved literacy,
educational attainment and better informed and knowledgeable
citizens. These are the significant contributor to the quality of
people’s lives from childhood to old age.
Programme
Director we remain committed as a department to ensure that our
libraries are developed in line with the changing digital world and
continuously improve them so that people can always us and enjoy
them in different ways at different times in their lives. We need to
make sure that library services are also responding to the growing
demand for e-books.
Our role is to
mobilise our young and adult population to utilise public libraries.
Equally as we do that, we also need to find ways of ensure that our
people are encouraged to be publishers and that their books hit the
shelves of all our public libraries. They have the capacity to tell
the correct stories, culture and tradition about our history.
Literacy is the
key driver for social mobility. Libraries can help people to
re-engage with learning and improve their literacy skills. We expect
our children to take advantage of this opportunity. This will be
monitored through the implementation of the FUNDZA for FUN project.
Children’s borrowing from libraries will be expected to rise to
measure the benefits and outcomes of the FUNDZA for FUN project.
Programme
Director, our vision of increasing access to library services
remains intact. As we do so, we will, working together with the
communities, ensure that libraries become the fountain of knowledge
to our people and that they are well taken care of.
I THANK YOU