Election posters have not yet been removed in some parts of Cape Town even though the deadline for the removal of posters has lapsed.
Municipalities have different by-laws, outlining penalties and fines for political parties who fail to remove their posters within the stipulated time frame.
After initially agreeing to shed some light on the City of Cape Town’s rules and regulations regarding election posters, Spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo did not honour his appointment for an interview with SABC News.
However, local government expert, Dr Harlan Cloete, says by-laws generally allow for posters to be removed within the two weeks after an election.
“Municipal council normally they have a bylaw that regulates the hanging up of posters and the removal of posters. They will pay a deposit. Normally the bylaw requires them to pay a deposit. And then they are given either 10 or 14 days after the elections. Failing which the bylaw can either say they will be charged per post that is still hanging. So yeah either they are charged per post that the municipality will have to remove and that is then deducted from the deposit that they have paid. In some cases R120 per post or something like that but they are charged. And if there is nothing in their deposit-then they are liable and they will have to pay it in money for the removal of a post by a municipality.”
Some of the parties claim they were not aware that posters bearing their logos have still not been removed. African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) member of the provincial legislature Ferlon Christians told SABC NEWS that after being made aware of the problem – they acted.
“We have regional chairpersons-we have instructed our regional chairpersons and our candidates to take down all posters. When I received this call, I immediately asked our regional chairperson to go check and take those posters down. Thank you for letting us knows. And we will attend to it very shortly.”
Again Dr Cloete is of the view that the duration given by the municipality for the removal of posters is fair and reasonable.
“Yes I do think that the time frame is fair. I mean some have seven, some have 10, and some have 14. So normally the political parties contract somebody to either put up the posters or to remove them so I do think that it is fair.”
