FED-UP with Pop-up Posters writes:
In recent weeks leading up to the elections on May 8, the various political parties contesting the elections have enthusiastically displayed multitudinous posters all around town, as is their entitlement, and as is only democratically fair.
These give the electorate a balanced overview of who candidates are in their area.
It is my understanding that any advertising duly authorised by the municipality for display – be it for elections, auctions, properties for sale, restaurant promotions, a whole variety of businesses, educational establishments, nurseries and crèches, and seemingly a hundred and one other events, has to be removed within a certain number of days after the particular event (or at the end of an agreed time-frame).
May residents hope that this clause or condition is enforced by the municipality after the elections, so that we don’t still have such posters on lampposts and elsewhere months after the event, as has happened in the past. The proverbial “they” are keen to put them up, but not to take them down afterwards.
Also, while on the subject of “lamppost and traffic light advertising”, what is the municipality’s position regarding informal (and therefore probably illegal) advertising, usually handwritten, offering services such as painting and decorating, tiling, tree-felling, thatch repairs, and the myriad of other services, which adorn lampposts and other fixtures?
We understand that in this day and age, people seeking work need and have to do whatever they reasonably can, to attract business, but surely the time has come for a clamp-down on these “fly posters” which become an eyesore.
We seem to recall that some time back, Kempton Express featured an article on a “clean-up” of “street furniture” (especially rubbish bins, which a photograph showed were covered in illegal advertising), which the municipality undertook.
Were personnel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, and gave up in despair, or was it a one-off media exercise to placate residents? The municipality’s comments would be welcome.
Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for the metro, replies:
All posters, including election posters, must be removed within 14 days after the event.
If posters are not removed within the allocated time, the metro will remove the poster and charge the owner of the poster R42 per poster.
Regarding ‘informal’ handwritten posters, any person who wants to display a poster needs to apply and obtain permission from the City in terms of relevant outdoor advertising by-laws.
Any poster, whether handwritten or printed, is illegal if permission is not granted by the City. The City regularly conducts by-law enforcement blitzes to remove illegal posters and sanction those who are found to be violating the by-laws.
