Illegal advertisements plastered on Govan Mbeki Municipality’s property

EVANDER – Not a street light, road sign or electrical infrastructure is spared. Advertisements are plastered all over it in and around the CBD.
This is not just a problem in the Evander area but all around the Govan Mbeki municipal area.
Posters advertising services for abortion, general repairs, earthmoving vehicles, you name it, cover municipal property.
Even pavements are riddled with tree stumps advertising tree felling services.
Raising his concerns, Evander resident, Corrie Badenhorst said: “Everywhere you look, there are posters and adverts advertising services. Even our road signs are plastered with advertisements.
“Law enforcement needs to sort out these people and set an example. I have brought this matter to GMM’s attention but nothing has happened to date. Nobody cares,” said Badenhorst.
He said law-abiding citizens and businesses are expected to do things in the right way, however, those who do not abide by the law are getting away with their advertising.
It is not right nor fair for those who do abide by the law.
“What is good for one citizen, should be good for all.
“It is not rocket science. All law enforcement has to do, is contact these advertising services which are clearly marked on these posters and take legal action against them. It is that simple,” said Badenhorst.
In response to the Ridge Times, Donald Green, acting head of communications for GMM, said that the municipality has been running an operation to deal with illegally advertising.
“Our officials are working tirelessly to identify these faceless organisations that keep on erecting illegal advertising posters that are placed on street poles, traffic lights, dustbins, bus stations, electrical infrastructure and other municipal property and CBDs are mainly targeted.”
Green said permission needs to be granted from the municipality for outdoors advertisements.
“Some of the illegal advertisements are placed without consideration to traffic signage, they obscure them, cause confusion or interference, and obstruct pedestrian traffic,” said Green.
GMM said it has toughened its approach with regards to outdoor advertising, signs and trailers embarking on a clean-up campaign as of October 22, 2020.
“The enforcement of the municipal by-laws are prioritised and will be strictly enforced.
“The Planning Department will be removing standing tree stumps painted signs and illegal fixtures to traffic signals, and posting stickers on all signs that do not conform to the municipalities requirements, who do not have official approval and who are in terms of the South African Manual for Outdoor Advertising Control (SAMOACK) not placed correctly,” said Green.
Green also said that the municipality is “getting tough” on several offending companies, including top international brands.
Part of the clean-up campaign is the start of an audit of every sign to verify which ones are legal and which ones are not.
This will provide a clear indication of how much revenue the municipality is losing in the application and rental fees.
Companies and industries making use of such advertisers will, unfortunately, be affected in the process.
“Offenders that deliberately ignore notices and make no effort to seek compliance of the sign and position, will now be held accountable and signs, posters and trailer be confiscated,” said Green.
He said the municipality can go the civil route and institute civil claims against the offenders.
The municipality can also lay criminal charges against the landlord (of the premises on which the billboard is erected), the advertising agency, the company being advertised, and its directors and shareholders.
The outdoor advertising and billboards by-laws clearly do not allow for illegal billboards to be put up without the municipalities permission.
“Some companies put up wrap advertising signs in residential areas, which is also illegal.
The number of advertising signs that visually degrade the streetscape character or cause visual clutter and information overload will be identified and action taken.
Any sign or board that may affect sight on the roads will be removed without notice,” said Green.
The approval process for outdoor advertising has been streamlined and as such there are currently no applications in the system to be processed or approved.
“A task team which includes Town Planning, Building control Traffic and Community Services department officials will monitor and take action where and when required,” said Green.
He said that most of the signs are erected at night or over weekends by unknown people.
The cluttering of signs on stand boundaries, road reserves intersections, signs on traffic signals and lamp-post will be marked clearly as illegal, and if not removed by the company, a process will be followed to remove the signs at the cost of the advertisers.
The municipality continuously issues notices of contravention, giving the offenders seven to 14 days to remove an illegal sign, which is ignored most of the time.
“Once a company ignores the notice, the case is referred to the legal department for a civil case to be heard in court.
“We are closing all the loopholes. We are also drawing up a list of the illegal signs, which we will hand over to the South African Revenue Service to check if they pay tax,” concluded Green.