The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture has been concerned about the number of litigations, labour disputes and costs incurred by The National Library of South Africa over the last three years.
In 2017, the litigation costs were around R 71, 383.70, in 2018 it jumped to more than a million rands R 1, 807, 468.98. Minister was seriously concerned with this huge jump.
Minister Mthethwa says; “Following my observation of this trend I engaged the Board of the National Library of South Africa about the matter. Amongst the problems, the Board identified was the usage of one legal firm for disciplinary matters. The Board then resolved that management must terminate the contract of the sole service provider and put a panel of attorneys together to be used by NLSA on a competitive basis for all the future legal matters.
Minister goes on to say: “The board has also assured me that they have restored a process of managing and conducting disciplinary process internally by putting the following measures in place:
- Staff were trained to preside over disciplinary process.
- All new disciplinary matters were conducted internally in line with the approved NLSA disciplinary procedure”.
We hope this will enhance the functioning of the institution and to deliver on its mandate.
Enquiries:
Masechaba Khumalo: Spokesperson (Minister),
Tel: 066 380 7408
E-mail: MasechabaN@dac.gov.za
Mr Mickey Modisane: Chief Director Marketing and Communications (Sport)
Tel: 082 992 0101
E-mail: Mickey@srsa.gov.za
Ms Zimasa Velaphi: Marketing and Communications (Arts and Culture)
Tel: 072 172 8925
E-mail: ZimasaV@dac.gov.za
