Political parties accuse waste pickers of stealing election posters
“Already close to 30% of our posters have been stolen. We have experienced this in every election.”
Political parties in Pretoria say informal recyclers, or “waste pickers”, are removing their campaign posters from streetlights across the city and selling them to recycling companies.
ActionSA Tshwane media manager Nkele Molapo said the theft of posters was a huge headache for the new party.
“This has affected us in a big way. Election posters are a form of communication with the electorate and as a fairly new party, this has hit us hard.”
According to Molapo, thousands of rands have been lost by the party this way.
“Any person who commits such an act is a criminal.”
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DA Gauteng provincial legislature member Crezane Bosch said 30% to 40% of their electioneering posters have been stolen in the previous campaigns.
“Already close to 30% of our posters have been stolen. We have experienced this in every election.”
Bosch said last week they found two persons in Soshanguve stealing their posters.
She said waste pickers would also take the posters to build shelters.
However, one waste picker Rekord spoke to, Sipho Msiza, said it was simply not true.
“The material used on posters is not what we recycle. It would be a waste of time for us to take it.
“We recycle boxes, white paper, tins and plastic.”
Msiza said they do not remove anything that belongs to the municipality, but only take things from rubbish bins.
“Even if we would come across these posters lying on the ground, we would still not take them because they are worthless to us. Where would we even take them? Political parties need to find the culprits because we are not to blame.”
IEC spokesperson Boitumelo Monaki also said they have yet to receive any complaints from political parties about the removal of campaign posters by waste pickers.
“All political parties subscribed to the electoral code of conduct and such actions [stealing election posters] are prohibited,” said Monaki.
Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said while they provided a platform for the display of posters, the metro cannot be expected to guard the signs.
“Any posters that have been removed (without the owner’s permission) or defaced should be reported to the SAPS,” he said.
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