Court orders the removal of illegal billboard on Gillooly’s

The court rules in favour of the CoE over Gillooly’s Farm’s billboard by-laws violation case spanning over eight years.

On May 28, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the CoE’s decision to dismantle a billboard erected by Tshepo Gugu Trading CC and Soweto Steel Structural Engineering, citing multiple violations of municipal bylaws.

The billboard was erected at the park in March 2016 without approval by the city.

The structure on Boeing Road West measures 15m x 60m.

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The site is prime advertising frontage to the N3 northbound.

Over the years, the billboard has been used to advertise products from several corporations.

In 2020, the CoE said it was losing potential revenue from the unapproved advertisements, and that the billboard could also pose a danger to motorists, pedestrians and properties.

The city’s approval process ensures the billboards in the area are structurally safe from a civil engineering perspective, and that the billboard is located on land appropriately zoned with approved way leaves.

According to Section 3(1) of the CoE’s Billboards and Display of Advertisements By-Laws, all outdoor advertising in the municipality’s jurisdiction must comply with specific regulations, which are binding on all parties.

In 2016, the municipality launched an application in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Johannesburg, (the high court) for an order directing the respondent to remove the billboard and restore the site to its original state.

Despite a 2018 settlement agreement allowing the billboard owner to regularise the billboard by paying the necessary fees and adhering to the by-laws, the company failed to comply.

The municipality finally acted on August 20, 2020, dismantling the billboard.

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Tshepo Gugu Trading CC sought an urgent court order to halt the dismantling, claiming spoliation.

The court ruled that the company’s non-compliance and subsequent application lapse justified the municipality’s actions to remove the illegal structure.

Ward Clr Jill Humphreys has requested the entire structure be properly removed from the premises.

The CoE spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, said the following about the judgement:

“The municipality is happy with the outcome of the ruling. The issues before the court were the implementation of its Billboards and the Display of Advertisement By-Laws when an illegal structure is erected.

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“The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that illegal billboards that do not comply with the municipality’s by-laws will not be allowed to remain on the municipality’s property without approval.

“To quote from the judgement, ‘the respondent was not in lawful possession of the billboard.

“Allowing this structure to remain on the municipality’s land would be to sanction an illegality. From the outset, the respondent was fully aware that the erection of the billboard violated the by-laws’.”

Dlamini said illegal billboards were a grey area for the city due to the common law principle of the Mandament van spolie.

“The SCA posed the question of whether the municipality unlawfully deprived the respondent of possession, which was answered. The structure was illegal. Therefore, the respondent was not unlawfully deprived of its possession.

“The municipality now has a clear answer to illegal structures erected without compliance to its municipal by-laws.

“These structures do not have the protection of the common law principle due to their unlawful existence,” said Dlamini.

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“The municipality intends to enforce the court order and have the respondent dismantle the illegal structure.

“The Municipality’s Billboards and the Display of Advertisement By-Laws are there to ensure compliance with the legislative requirements of the laws within SA, specifically with the South African National Roads Agency, and will continue revising any clauses to align with national Legislation,” he added.