Benoni electioneering gets dirty as councillor targeted in sticker campaign

With less than a month to go before the local government elections, campaigning is heating up, and in at least one Ekurhuleni ward, the battle has spilt onto the streets with a negative campaign targeting an incumbent councillor.

In Benoni’s Farrarmere suburb, a campaign against Ward 28 councillor Mary Goby appeared on Tuesday, with stickers attacking her plastered onto road signs at several intersections. Stop signs were among those targeted with yellow notices carrying the slogans “#MaryMustGo” and “Farrarmere, Time To Fire Mary Goby”.

Goby said it was the second time she had been targeted by political opponents.

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“It’s an election, and it should be fought based on local government solutions and what positive contributions a candidate can make should they be elected,” she said. “Now, here is someone who defaces the very infrastructure that a financially challenged metro can ill afford to repair or replace.”

Stickers on road signs illegal

She said opponents had every right to campaign against her, criticise her record and encourage voters to support somebody else, but political competition did not extend to damaging public infrastructure.

“That is democracy, and I will always defend that right,” she said. “But nobody has the right to break the law or deface public infrastructure in order to make a political point.”

Defacing road traffic signs is illegal. The National Road Traffic Act prohibits the wilful or negligent damaging of a road traffic sign and, without proper authority, altering its position, inscription, lettering, colour or markings.

Ekurhuleni’s street conduct rules also prohibit defacing or painting road traffic signs without consent. According to the city, a person convicted of an offence may face a fine of up to R2 000, imprisonment of up to six months in default of payment, or potentially both.

The metro’s police services by-laws also prohibit removing, mutilating, obscuring, damaging or otherwise interfering with municipal traffic signs and allow it to recover the costs of repairs or replacement.

Call for CCTV footage

Goby called on residents with CCTV, security or dashcam footage, photographs or other information that could identify whoever placed the stickers to come forward.

“The relevant authorities will be asked to investigate the matter and take the appropriate action. I will not speculate about who is responsible. That is what evidence and a proper investigation are for,” she said.

She also appealed directly to candidates contesting the ward.

“Campaign as hard as you like. Challenge me. Criticise me. Tell residents why you think they should replace me. But please respect the law. Our street signs and municipal infrastructure are public property, not campaign billboards.”

Goby said she was prepared to face voters on her performance and acknowledged that not every problem in the ward had been resolved.

“The answer to a councillor’s record is political debate and the ballot box. No one should take the law into their own hands and vandalise the community they want to represent.”