Civic duty call to cellphone firms in a fight against illegal advertising

One of the best ways to gauge whether you are living in a failed state – or in one well on its way to becoming one – is the state of public spaces and infrastructure.

In an opinion piece for us this week, Joburg ratepayer and businessman Justin Jones pointed out that one of the major blights on our urban landscape is the proliferation of illegal posters and advertising signs which get stuck on all sorts of public infrastructure, from road signs to lamp posts to bridges.

And, as he correctly says, very little gets done about the lawbreakers, who range from estate agents to sangomas to large, multinational brands.

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

The City of Joburg largely turns a blind eye to all of this. But why not, argues Jones, start implementing the same sort of “broken windows” community strategies which some years ago helped bring New York City back from its crime and grime-fuelled decline? Fix the small issues and society as a whole gets better.

Jones suggests that cellphone companies disconnect the numbers of people and companies touted on illegal ads.

It would be an effective deterrent to criminality. How about it, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom? Can you step up and do your civic duty?