From apartheid’s ‘Green Mambas’ to today’s closing libraries

THE current rate at which public libraries in the Durban Metro are closing, or downsizing, or laying-off workers, again spirals my mind back to the inglorious days of South African apartheid when, whilst Black people were confined to using the unkempt, overcrowded infamous “Green Mambas’, as transport systems, the White People enjoyed a far cleaner, more efficient Red Trolley Bus service.

- EBRAHIM ESSA

The former was manned exclusively by a Black staff whilst the latter by Europeans only. Paradoxically, the Black service generally showed a profit whilst the White one always a loss. Now the point: No matter the size of the loss, a readily accessible, low cost commuting service was always considered vital to the Durban Metro.

Basic services were always indisputable. (So ironically, the profits from the green assisted the reds and prevented the system to stay in the black!)