The last straw before outdoor advertising anarchy
Since 2018, Vorna Valley has been plagued with illegal billboards but resident Mark Straw continues to taking them down.
A Vorna Valley resident is on a one-man crusade to rid his area of illegal outdoor advertising signs and posters. Unsightly illegal advertising posters on lampposts and traffic sign poles have marred the suburb since 2018, said Mark Straw (49), who has lived in Vorna Valley for more than 10 years.
Realising the council was not winning the war against the mushrooming of illegal posters, the proud homeowner decided five years ago to roll up his sleeves and make a difference in the upkeep of his suburb. Two or three times a month, depending on his schedule, he takes to the streets and removes the posters and signs that do not bear the luminous stickers that identify them as legal posters.
Ward 132 councillor Annette Deppe confirmed that these stickers are issued once municipal permission had been granted to erect advertising material, as per the city’s Outdoor Advertising By-laws. Straw said his job is thankless, because despite how regularly he removes posters, new ones appear just as quickly. However, he refuses to abandon his task of taking down and transporting illegal signs to the nearest Pikitup depots in Midrand and Kyalami.
His latest project was on March 19, when he removed boards between Albertyn Street and Allandale Road. He described the many illegal signs as an ‘eyesore that makes the suburb look neglected and uncared for’. “You cannot feel proud of the area you live in if it looks shoddy and unkept. Which is why I took it upon myself to start removing illegal signs. They contribute to urban decay.”
Deppe said bigger fines could be the solution to illegal outdoor advertising. “Applying through the city’s outdoor advertising [department] is important so that advertisers can pay for their space, because this is income for the city to use for much-needed service delivery elsewhere.”
Toward the end of last year, the city’s outdoor advertising department held a public meeting at the Midrand Fire Station to make community members aware of the by-laws that prevent people from putting up posters as they please. JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla said the by-laws are enforced through the management unit, which impounds material, instruments and tools used to illegals erect billboards or posters.
“Unfortunately, we cannot arrest perpetrators for contravening the by-laws,” he said. However, he explained that the subcontractor who illegally erected the boards must pay an impoundment fee of R3 551 before their equipment is returned to them.
Assistant director of the city’s outdoor advertising department Samuel Maluleka said the outdoor advertising regulations were updated to better facilitate the approval process and address the ‘balance of authority between the industry [applicant], landlords and regulators’ and to promote the equitable use of outdoor advertising space.”
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