CoJ to fine political parties R500 per unremoved poster
CoJ gives all parties and independent candidates 14 days to remove their campaign materials.
Now that the 2024 National Elections have concluded, political parties have the responsibility to ensure all campaign posters are removed.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) urges all political parties that participated and displayed posters and other related election material for political campaigns to do so under the provisions of Section 28 of the CoJ Metropolitan Municipality Outdoor Advertising By-laws (2009), which, among other conditions, states that:
“Any poster contemplated here above must be removed by the person displaying it within 14 days after the conclusion of the election, failing which, the council shall, within 14 days after the conclusion of the election, notify the relevant party to remove the posters within a period specified, failing which, the council may remove the posters itself against a prescribed fee of R500 per poster payable by the relevant party.”
According to CoJ communications specialist Virgil James, JMPD’s By-law Unit will remove and collate posters of political parties that have failed to remove their posters and issue fines against the prescribed fee.
“During elections, the city’s electric light poles are covered with campaign posters, giving the streets a hue of colour. However, if left unchecked, these make the city look unsightly and become an eyesore, hence the provisions of Section 28,” James added.
According to the entity, this means that all political parties and independent candidates registered with the IEC are exempted from complying with the provisions of Section 3 of the CoJ Outdoor Advertising By-law (2009), which compels them to submit the necessary applications and not be required to pay prescribed fees in terms of these by-laws to display campaign posters.
