A resident of Kiewiet Street, Eikepark said he is glad the municipal elections are over after political parties infuriated him by pinning posters into his lawn on voting day.
Christopher Masoeu said he came home from a morning drive with his family to find his lawn covered with political posters. He said he knew the street was going to be busy on Wednesday, 3 August, as the Westcol voting station was right across the road from his house, but he never expected the political party he was going to vote for to plant posters on the grass outside his property.
He says the party’s actions angered him because he didn’t want to be openly associated with any particular political party, because of the dangers thereof. “I don’t want to be seen as a supporter of any party as opposing party supporters could target me and my household even long after the elections are completed,” Christopher said. He said he calmly removed the posters and took them across the street to the party to which they belonged. “The people at the party’s tent started shouting at me and said the grass belonged to the municipality. I don’t think they even started to consider why I did it.”
Kate Bapela, spokesperson for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), said it is not illegal for parties to plant their signs on municipal ground. “The parties are allowed to put up any politically related marketing posters as long as they don’t trespass on privately owned property.”
Christopher says it also bothered him that voters as well as political party members parked their cars in his driveway. “My wife is pregnant and could go into labour at any moment. The cars parked in my driveway were blocking the only entrance to the yard. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if she’d gone into labour and the drivers were nowhere to be found,” Christopher said. “I’m so glad the elections are over.”
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