Political parties urged to remove election posters or face heavy fines

Election Posters

Cape Town — Various metros around South African have issued warnings to political parties to remove their election posters by Wednesday 12 June now that the elections are over.

The City of Joburg wrote a statement warning all political parties that all election posters needed to be removed by Wednesday 12 June, which marks the 14th day since the elections and the end of the grace period. Failure to do so would result in a R500 fine for each poster, city spokesperson Virgil James, said.

“Any poster contemplated here above, must be removed by the person displaying it within fourteen (14) days after conclusion of the election or voter registration” James said.

“… the Council shall within 14 days after the conclusion of the election or voter registration notify the relevant party to remove the posters within a time period specified, failing which, the Council may remove the posters itself against a prescribed fee of R500 per poster payable by the relevant party.” he added.

He said Joburg’s Metropolitan Police By-law Unit will remove posters of parties who have not done so, and will start issuing fines. While city electricity poles are adorned with posters during elections, it becomes an eyesore once the elections are over, as per Section 28.

According to IOL, the City of Ekurhuleni also gave political parties to remove posters by Wednesday. City spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, urged parties to take down their election materials, and failure to do so will result in significant fines.

“Any material not removed… will be removed by the City across all wards and the applicable political party will be charged a tariff/removal fee of R57.69 per poster, as prescribed by Schedule 19 of the City’s promulgated tariffs for the 2023/24 Financial Year,” he said.“The City shall not be liable for any loss, damage, storage, cost, claims, demands and/or any other liability from an individual or political party who had contested the elections, with regards to election related material removed by the City.” he added.

The Mangaung Metro Municipality in Bloemfontein, Free State, has also given political parties 14 days to remove their election  posters or face being penalised under by-laws, SABC News reported. 
“Most of the posters are now down. We are requesting those who have not yet done so, remove them before we institute a penalty. We would want to thank the other parties for cooperating as most of them are down.” municipality spokesperson, Qondilw Khemana, said.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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