Cellphone companies can help in fighting illegal posters against urban by-laws

As a Joburg resident, ratepayer and urban activist and like so many others in South Africa, I have been horrified by witnessing the collapse of the public realm in South African cities.

Like failed states to the north of South Africa, the public realm and the state of public infrastructure is a litmus test of the functionality and levels of corruption within the public sector institutions.

For a multitude of reasons, including the abandonment of the public spaces (or public realm) by the various municipalities in South Africa, there has been a proliferation of illegal posters (advertising) and unsightly guerrilla style adverts, that get stuck on all sorts of public infrastructure.

This infrastructure is usually municipal owned, but the councils do nothing to prevent it and the posters are seldom removed. You cannot drive anywhere in a South African city these days without seeing illegal posters selling prophets, potions and penis enlargements.

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Then there are also the ones that are selling things like “quick abortions” and “lost lover” retrieval, which are inevitably done by unlicensed practitioners in unsafe conditions.

This proliferation of illegal posters has worked to make the public space in South African towns and cities unsightly and this, together with things such as the hijacking of buildings, has led to the devaluation of properties and the loss of residential and public amenity.

When the various posters are analysed, it become noticeably clear as to why the originator or owner uses the illegal (guerrilla type) approach to advertise. The practices they are advertising are normally illegal, and they are preying on the poor, the desperate and the marginalised.

This undermines the amenity and liveability of cities and we need to stop this illegal practice and protect our citizens and the amenity of the city. There needs to be a purposeful reconsideration of the meaning and nature of public space for the benefit of all users.

This proliferation of illegal posters, which has become widespread in all South Africa towns and cities, fits the “broken window” theory, which started in New York as the city fathers were trying to transform the city for the better.

The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor crimes, such as vandalism, loitering, public drinking, jaywalking and fare evasion, help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing more serious crimes.

The department of environment, forestry and fisheries acknowledges the importance of the visual environment, which is often underestimated or is perceived as a fashionable and luxury environmental concern with no relevance outside the extravagant lifestyle of the upper reaches of modern society.

It says: “Visual resources such as scenic landscapes and cultural streetscapes constitute major tourist attractions. The visual environment also forms a backdrop to most other tourist activities such as game watching, touring, entertainment, shopping and sport.”

It adds: “In South Africa, with its richness and diversity of landscapes and cultures, it is of the utmost importance that the element of local character should be strengthened and enhanced when and wherever possible.”

If not managed correctly, outdoor advertising may have a major impact on the aesthetic environment but may also contribute to environmental problems such as sound and light pollution and may influence road safety.

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that outdoor advertising fulfils an important role in present-day life and provides us with various benefits.

The idea that I propose is to make this a public issue that gets brought to the attention of the cellphone companies via the press and ask citizens to participate to stop this illegal practice.

All the cellphone companies will have their ESG (environmental, society and governance) claims and should have ESG metrics, which are meaningless if they aid and abet such gross violations, such as illegal posters, stickers, and outdoor advertising.

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Each illegal poster has a cellphone number for unsuspecting people to call, so the plan is to invite citizens to send a photo of any illegal poster, stuck on public infrastructure near them, to a shared number for the respective cellphone company to deactivate the cellphone number from service.

This way the perpetrators would think twice before going to the length of printing posters and sticking them on public infrastructure, which is against the city’s by-laws.

As the city does not have the capacity to remove the illegal posters every time, they are stuck and the onus of responsibility needs to be put on the cellphone companies to stop such practices, with the aid of the press and the city’s citizens.

The various cellphone companies can make the necessary facility and resources available to effectuate the deactivation of the cellphone numbers of the many illegal posters as these get sent daily to the various cellphone companies for the cellphone numbers displayed on the posters to be permanently removed from the cellphone network.

Eventually the message will get through that those who transgress will be wasting money by printing and sticking illegal posters in public.

This could be a CSI (corporate social investment) project that assists all South African cities restore the value of the public realm and deliver the goods that comes from such a CSI project.

• Jones is a director at Planet Earth Properties