Cape Town libraries host 'Fine-Free Week' from 30 June to 5 July

John Maytham, standing in for CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit, speaks to Naziem Hardy of the Libraries Acquisitions Unit for the City of Cape Town.

Listen below:

This winter, the City’s Libraries and Information Service will host a 'Fine-Free Week' for patrons aged 17 and under, running from Monday, 30 June to Saturday, 5 July 2025.

The initiative allows children and teens to return overdue materials without incurring any late fees, no matter which library branch the items were borrowed from or returned to.

However, the City reminds patrons that while late return fines are being waived, replacement charges for lost or damaged items will still apply.

The main goal of Fine-Free Week is to encourage young readers to reconnect with their libraries and start the new school term with a clean borrowing record.

To make the week even more exciting, libraries will also be hosting a variety of free indoor holiday activities. These include anime drawing workshops, coding boot camps, chess tournaments, and visits from a mobile science centre - activities vary at each library.

The initiative follows the success of the previous Fine-Free Week held during South African Library Week (17–23 March 2025), during which 13,178 overdue items were returned.

Young patrons and their families are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to return overdue materials, enjoy holiday programs, and rediscover the joy of reading.

Hardy explains why he thinks children might not return library books...

"... children are just children and they forget things... sometimes there are more complicated reasons and they tend to lose things more often than adults do. I'm not sure if there's a different reason for that... perhaps they don't want to return it because they think it's theirs or want to keep on reading it..."

- Naziem Hardy - Libraries Acquisitions Unit - City of Cape Town

Hady adds why libraries are needed, especially for young readers.

"If we do not have enough young people who read, we've got to start thinking if we need libraries... I believe there is a need for kids to read, and I believe that the library is central to that. If you look at the cost of books, it is astronomical what a popular fiction book costs... the library... they can just walk in and get a book."

- Naziem Hardy - Libraries Acquisitions Unit - City of Cape Town

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.