A MULTI-MILLION RAND LIBRARY OPENED

Thabazimbi/ Regorogile – A well-equipped multi-million-rand community library with access to free internet was officially opened for the Regorogile community in Limpopo on Friday, 16 March.

In her opening address, the Limpopo Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (LDSAC) MEC Onicca Moloi, told the attendees consisting of various stakeholders including councillors and community members, that a library was the most important tool to assist in civilising and developing communities.

She added that a library was essential in keeping the youth off the streets and decrease levels of illiteracy as it installs the culture of reading and learning at the same time. “It is a reservoir of knowledge,” she said. 

In her speech, MEC Moloi described libraries as critical heritage institutions that assist in preserving the heritage and history of communities. “They offer an ever-changing range of cultural resources to the community, and they have become a mixed-type of educational, social and cultural institution,” she said.

She emphasised the strategic importance of libraries when viewed within the socio-economic development context and explained how the culture of reading could contribute towards a life-long desire to learn and develop oneself, intellectually, emotionally and culturally.  In her concluding remarks, she encouraged the community to look and “guard jealously” against anything that might threaten to damage or vandalise the library.  

Echoing her sentiments, Thabazimbi local municipality mayor, Midah Moselane, added: “Libraries instil a reading culture and are of strategic importance to socio-economic growth and development.”

Regarding raising literacy levels, mayor Moselane said: “We must encourage ourselves and our children to read, because through reading we become literate and South Africa needs literate people since we are a developing country.”