NELSPRUIT – Municipal by-laws are designed to regulate outdoor advertising on, or visible from, public roads within the municipal area, whether or not it is erected on private property.
The ANC’s yellow, black and green banners and flags still graced the entrance to the city on the N4, almost two months after the conclusion of its manifesto.
These by-laws clearly state that no banner shall be displayed for more than two weeks before the date of the function or event advertised, nor shall any such advertisement be permitted to remain in position for more than one day after the conclusion of such function or event.
However, Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) may remove any flags or banners that do not meet these requirements, but has as yet failed to do so. It is also not only the flags that raise questions, but that the current structures used for them are rusty and broken. This poses a serious safety risk for motorists and requires urgent attention.
Now that the election date has been gazetted, political parties are starting, while some have already erected massive billboards to encourage the public to vote for them. Some bridges and traffic signs are only a few of the structures that have been papered by election posters, and many manifesto ones are still visible. Here by-laws state that a poster may not be attached or affixed to a road traffic sign or a signal, wall, column or post of a veranda or balcony, electricity box, tree or a bridge.
Although political parties are allowed to put their posters on light poles, there are still regulations to adhere to.
Not more than three per pole shall be allowed, again some parties try to make theirs rise above the rest, knowingly breaking the law. Here again, not only the ANC, but other parties have failed to comply with these regulations.
If any sign or advertising board is displayed so that, in the opinion of the municipality, it is detrimental to the environment or to the amenities of the neighbourhood, or is otherwise in contravention of these by-laws, the municipality may serve a notice on or may instruct the owners of the sign or advertising hoarding to remove it.
If the owner does not remove it within a certain period, it may remove it.
This again raises the question, why do the same rules not apply to everyone and what is going to be done about it? After sending a query to MLM, no response was given yet again.
Illegal Posters. Unfortunately the implication is that if you cannot even follow the law regarding a simple thing such as erecting posters, how the devil can you expect a party to run a government. Ask the Auditor General about the corruption and underspending in Mbombela alone, but who cares!!