The Steve Tshwete Local Municipality has confirmed that stacks of COSATU May Day posters, advertising the union’s May 1 Labour Day celebrations, were allowed to be stored inside the municipality.

President Cyril Ramaphosa attended the event and used the platform to deliver his May Day message.

His attendance could, however, not be confirmed ahead of the event, with government communications formally requesting that the president’s attendance not be confirmed, despite COSATU organisers alluding to his presence more than two weeks before May Day festivities.

The DA took offence with the posters in storage at the municipality, with Clr Stefan Smith questioning whether the municipality’s approval was in line with legislation like the Municipal Finance Management Act, the Public Administration and Systems Act, as well as the electoral code of conduct of the IEC, since the posters displayed the ANC and SACP logos.

The COSATU poster brouhaha comes on the back of a lone DA crusade to force the removal a legacy ANC regalia from the political offices in the municipality.
The regalia was ordered by the late Mayor Bagudi Tolo.

The DA’s Gys Romijn led the crusade across multiple sittings, and the council eventually ordered the removal of the regalia.

On Tuesday, the municipality confirmed that a request to store the posters on municipal premises had been made and received.
It remains unclear who made the request and who approved it, despite permission being obtained.

The municipality denies that any municipal resources had been approved or allowed to be used with the flighting of the posters.
As usual, the removal of the posters was not as diligent as their flighting.

Despite the slow removal, no fines were issued by the municipality.

The municipality also made it clear that no poster fees had been levied.