Hon Minister, I want to address the issue of community libraries in rural areas. Community libraries are of the utmost importance in rural areas, because more often than not they are the only source of information where learners can obtain information for school projects and where inhabitants can get books, periodicals, etc.
In this regard, Minister, conditional grants which are at the disposal of these libraries are very helpful. Before these grants are transferred to libraries, however, a business plan must be submitted. The problem arises when librarians do not have the capacity to draw up such a plan and therefore cannot benefit from the conditional grants.
How do you address this problem and how do you monitor whether municipalities into whose coffers these grants are paid, provide the grants to libraries whenever they request it? Minister, I know of municipalities that keep the grants in their coffers as long as possible in order to benefit from the interest on those amounts.