Following an extended 5-year hiatus, the Johannesburg City Library is finally turning to its comeback chapter! The library has begun reopening at long last, cracking its doors open for the first time in ages on Human Rights Day.
Johannesburg, South Africa (24 March 2025) — The Johannesburg City Library has finally ended its lengthy and contested hiatus by partially reopening! On Human Rights Day last Friday, the library cracked its doors open to the delight of readers, civic advocates and communities all over Jozi.
Front and centre at the reopening were the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF) and the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance (JCA)—driving forces behind the call to action to get the library back up and running.
“The staggered re-opening is long overdue, following an extended 5-year closure which severely affected the local community, students, researchers, academics, etc,” the JHF and JCA share in a statement.
Access to the Johannesburg City Library was first inhibited on account of the pandemic, and its official closure came about in 2021 due to structural safety concerns.
However, in 2024, the public demand for the library’s re-opening reached a boiling point, with protesters calling for answers and action from the City of Johannesburg. The City responded by saying it would commit to reopening the library—a promise that is seemingly coming to fruition.
As the library was a huge point of accessibility to information for many (it boasted over a million books, free wifi and workstations), its closure was reported as being a huge loss to the public.
“As a consequence of this civil action and the corresponding media attention, we are gratified that the authorities finally agreed to invite us to regular stakeholder meetings where progress reports were shared by the contractors and we were able to offer constructive input,” the JHF and JCA explain.
“As a result of this open and collaborative approach, we believe that together we have realised a positive outcome that will stand the library in good stead going forward. We furthermore encourage the authorities to continue following this productive approach as we tackle additional challenged faced by other city-owned heritage properties.”
The groups have also called on the authorities to make the costs of repairs thus far public as well as to act with urgency in re-opening several other branch libraries.
The full re-opening is anticipated to happen toward the middle of 2025.
Sources: Johannesburg Heritage Foundation; Johannesburg Crisis Alliance
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