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10 March 2009

Honourable Mayor of Lekwa municipality, Councillor JQ Radebe-Khumalo
Councillors present
Head of Department in my department, Ms SP Mjwara
Senior officials in my department
Ladies and gentlemen

Firstly, I would like to extend my profound appreciation to my staff who worked tirelessly to deliver the Morgenzon public library to the community. Your diligent work over the last while will put smiles on the community for a long time. Today we are here to celebrate with the community on this special event, the reopening of the refurbished library.

A library plays an important role in the development of any society, especially in a country like South Africa. For our country to emerge as a world economic powerhouse we would need educated citizens in the fields of mathematics and science. As government we have started to put in our communities supporting mechanisms in place to produce scientists, physicians and academics who will catapult our country to prosperity.

Ladies and gentlemen, we should never underestimate the power of education to change a person, a community, a province, a nation and the world. For so long our country was involved in a bitter struggle against the apartheid demon. People all over the world still wonder how we managed the transition without any hassles or conflicts. The answer is simple, we had educated leaders who took the country forward and transformed it into a beacon of hope for other countries in the continent and a model of peace, stability and democracy. Education and knowledge are the master keys to open the doors of success.

As we reopen the Morgenzon Library, we reopen the doors of opportunities for the community, to some of you the wait seemed like an eternity, but I am glad to report that it was worth the wait. Today you take ownership of not just any library, but one that is equipped with the latest technological tools for a modern library like this one. This library is a window through which you must see the world and the opportunities available out there.

Programme directors; allow me to make a request to the community, especially the youth, women and disabled. You should make the library your bosom friend in your bid to succeed in life. Learning institutions and libraries are the means one can use to achieve his or her goals.

Dr Seuss, a famous academic, might have been referring to what happens inside a library when he wrote: “the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn; the more places you will go”.

For you to read more you need to visit the library more often. You can read about anything that tickles your fancy. It could be sport, politics, history or any subject that appeals to you. It is all here at Morgenzon library. Today’s gathering gives my department boundless joy. Our joy emanates from the fact that the reopening of this library has made service delivery a reality to this community. Local constructors benefited during the refurbishment of the library.

Temporary and permanent employment opportunities have been created in the process. The reopening of the library we will also entrench one of our objectives of instilling a culture of reading and promoting information literacy and cultural diversity among the community. Former state President, Tata Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. On this day, 10 March 2009, I also urge the community to take heed to the wise words of the founding father of our democracy.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I mentioned earlier on, for us to succeed as a nation we need skilled and educated people. The process to produce them started long time ago. Projects such as the reopening of Morgenzon library are an extension of that process. To the Morgenzon community, you are all welcomed to use the library. It was refurbished to benefit you and to empower the community and its surrounding areas. You should also look out for vandals whose evil ways would undo the good work that government has done here. If we do not report vandalism and criminal elements to the relevant authorities we would be allowing them to control our communities.

On behalf of the department, I have the pleasure to handover the refurbished Morgenzon library to the community. I have no doubt that it will inspire you to achieve greatness that will not only benefit this community, but the Mpumalanga and South Africa.

In conclusion programme directors, I want to share with you quotation by John Bright, it reads thus: “What is a great love of books? It is something like a personal introduction to the great and good men of all past times. Books, it is true, are silent as you see them on their shelves; but, silent as they are, when I enter a library I feel as if almost the dead were present, and I know if I put questions to these books they will answer me with all the faithfulness and fullness which has been left in them by the great men who have left the books with us”.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
10 March 2009
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government (http://www.mpumalanga.gov.za/)