Cultural Affairs and Sport

1. Why is her Department not assuming full responsibility for the running of libraries:

The Department cannot assume full responsibility for the running of the libraries due to financial resource constraints referred to as the unfunded mandate. 

The unfunded mandate was created by the Constitution of South Africa (Act no 108 of 1996) assigning the library function as an area of exclusive provincial legislative competence.
Although the Constitution stipulates that all libraries, excluding national libraries, are the exclusive legislative competence of the provinces, the financial implications of the provision of the public library services function were not costed.  No provision was made in the respective Division of Revenue Acts that the funding that used to fund the municipal portion of the services, had to ‘follow the function’, thus being made available to the respective province.

(b) what factors were considered when the decision was made to assign the library function to municipalities,

We have not assigned this function to municipalities; this will only be possible when legislation is promulgated. Previous attempts to enact library legislation failed as Provincial Treasury indicated that funds doesn’t exist to fund this legislation

 (c) why was this the preferred option; and

The current model of co-operation between the Province and the municipalities is based on the principles of Executive Assignment, although it cannot be formalised as an Executive Assignment yet, due to financial implications. The principles of Executive Assignment are incorporated in the Memorandums of Agreement and Business Plans signed annually between the Department and each municipality to formalise and outline the assistance provided.  An Implementation Protocol has also been concluded with the City of Cape Town Libraries.

Executive Assignment means that Municipalities remain responsible for the local planning, policies, budgeting and financial management, appointing and managing personnel, imposing and recovering service charges, daily operations, maintenance, customer relations and communication for all local libraries within the municipality. 

Western Cape Library Service is to provide adequate funding and capacity for the performance of the function and continues to perform the role of selection, ordering, professional preparation, processing and distribution of library material, the central reference service, special requests, inter-library loans, professional support and training, promotion and publications, and provision of the library management system database, ICT infrastructure and services.

This option is considered the most practical and effective, as well as cost effective, system of co-operation between province and municipalities

(d) what other options were available to her Department?

In 2000 a Draft Western Cape Provincial Library and Information Bill was finalised, making provision for the assignment of the administration of local public library services to municipalities in terms of the Constitution, but the Provincial Treasury declined to support the draft Bill, due to its financial implications for the Province, and the Bill was never submitted to the Provincial Cabinet for consideration.

The department receives a Conditional Grant for Community Library Services from the national Department of Arts and Culture to support the funding of Public Libraries.  

A Municipal Replacement funding Programme is made available that provides the 15 Category B3 municipalities in the Province with financial support.  These include Beaufort West, Bergrivier, Bitou, Cape Agulhas, Cederberg, Hessequa, Kannaland, Laingsburg, Langeberg, Matzikama, Prince Albert, Swartland, Swellendam, Theewaterskloof and Witzenberg Municipalities. This funding played a crucial role in supplementing municipal investment in delivering professional library services in category B3 municipalities. 

The Metro Library Grant (R 10 000 000) established in 2015/16, continues to be provided to the City of Cape Town.