An illegal billboard, a sore sight to Gillooly’s Farm park users for over 10 years, was finally dismantled.
The City of Ekurhuleni’s Development Planning and Real Estate Department conducted the dismantling on May 11.
City of Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor, Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, said the billboard had been erected illegally, while the company in question had bypassed processes and failed to follow the city’s by-laws.
Echoing the mayor’s words, the city’s legal team added that the billboard was placed in the incorrect locality.
According to the application, it was supposed to be 100m further away from Gillooly’s Farm. Secondly, the city’s bylaw allows a billboard to occupy 81m²s. This one was 900m².
Meanwhile, Xhakaza said Gillooly’s Farm is a municipal park and one of the city’s strategic land parcels for hospitality.
It generates significant revenue for the city and, most importantly, contributes to people’s livelihoods.
“When you erect an illegal structure and refuse to take it down, and then take us to court, we end up spending over R2 million just on legal fees, pursuing cases through various courts, including demolition and other related costs.
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“We will have to ensure that we recover that money from the responsible party. We are issuing a warning to all others erecting illegal billboards that our teams are on the way. If you do not comply, we are on top of you. It does not matter who you are,” Xhakaza said.
MMC for Development Planning and Real Estate Nomadlozi Nkosi said the owner of the illegal billboard was making around R200 000 every month.
She added, “They don’t pay any revenue to the city; the money is for themselves. The city has lost a lot of money.
“That is the reason we are removing this thing because each and every time we pleaded with them to come forward so the city would assist them to comply, but they didn’t.”
In addition, MMC Councillor Dino Peterson reminded all outdoor advertisers that outdoor advertising is a regulated process.
He added that people complain that services are not being rendered, whereas people with such facilities generating revenue for the city do not pay it over to the city.
Ward 18 Clr Heather Hart acknowledged that this was an example of the power of the system and the power of perseverance.
She further thanked the legal department for following up on the case and the city for taking cognisance.
Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys expressed her relief in seeing the “disgusting edifice coming down”.
“Since my very early days in this job, I’ve been fighting this. I stood in front of the grader when they were putting it in, and he would’ve been quite happy to go over me. That is the sort of person that we are dealing with,” said Humphreys.
She shared that they were also threatened legally to stop harassing them [the illegal billboard owner/s].
Humphreys said she was even more excited that the department would be conducting more of these.
