The illegal display of advertising posters and the reluctance of the advertisers to remove them is spoiling the looks of town.
The reckless posting of advertising material on walls, flower beds, tree stands and telephone poles to name but a few, is getting out of hand. The LETABA HERALD was contacted by concerned residents, complaining about this escalating problem. After some investigation it was discovered that some of the culprits are businesses and institutions based in the Gauteng area.
One such institution is the Unity Fellowship Church based in Soweto who not only put up their posters in unauthorised spots but actually apply a type of glue on the surfaces before placing the poster in position.
A call to the number displayed on a poster advertising a prayer meeting by a pastor Mukhuba from the Unity church to be held in Lenyenye on October 11, was answered by a certain Mpho who informed the HERALD that the pastor does not take telephone calls from the public or the press.
After explaining the situation over and over again, Mpho said that she will inform the relevant person who will be in contact with the HERALD. Nobody from the Unity church returned the call, so a call was once again made to the church.
The response from Mpho the second time around was that her superior told her that they will look into the situation.
This answer was not to the satisfaction of the LETABA HERALD and it was demanded that a person of authority be put on the phone for a response. Tenacity paid off and a person called Violet was prepared to continue the conversation. She explained that the church is aware of the process of applying for permission to put up advertising material and admitted that in other towns where they did advertise a meeting, a levy had to be paid.
She continued by saying that representatives from the church attended a meeting on Monday, September 24 at the Lenenye police station regarding the prayer meeting where a so called ‘representative’ from the GTM, allegedly informed them that it was not necessary to obtain permission nor necessary to pay any sort of fee in order to advertise the gathering.
Violet then requested a photo of the illegal placement of their advertisement which was emailed to her and she promised to respond with the details of the ‘person’ from the GTM who allegedly gave permission to the church to display the notices without following the correct process.
No response was received from Unity Fellowship Church.
Signboards advertising swimming pool repairs are displayed in particular in the Aqua Park area.
These boards are attached to anything from lamp posts to speed hump warning signs. Phoning the telephone number on one of these board revealed that the company is based in the Pretoria area.
According to André Liversage, Manager of Licensing and Testing from the GTM, only certain designated areas are to be used for the advertising of businesses. When advertising an event, the advertising material (posters) may only be displayed against official lamp posts after an application form has been submitted to the GTM, the prescribed levy paid and the authorisation stickers supplied by the GTM are displayed on the posters. These posters may then be displayed from 21 days before the date of the event and must be removed three days after conclusion of the event. The HERALD is waiting for a response from the GTM as to who is responsible for the removing of advertising material if the advertiser is not doing it as well as who is responsible for prosecuting these advertisers.
