Cape Town - Several parties are still scrambling to remove their election posters from street lamps across the city to avoid a hefty penalty, after the deadline passed on Saturday.
The City of Cape Town said election posters had to be removed by June 8, however, yesterday DA, EFF, ActionSA and Cope posters were among those still on display in various suburbs.
The City said in general, election posters must be removed within 10 days after the election to avoid being penalised.
“Posters that are not removed within this deadline will be removed by the City as of Monday, June 10, 2024, at the political party’s cost of R134.10 per poster.
“The responsible political party will be billed,” the City said.
“The City kindly reminds political parties of the election poster removal rules that the administration shared with all in the run-up to the election,” it added.
“These are contained in the election rules document. Another reminder was sent on Friday, May 31.
“To recover any of the unauthorised posters removed by the municipality, parties will need to liaise, during office hours, with the City's Environmental Management Department officials to collect the posters.”
City spokesperson, Luthando Tyhalibongo, said the City will start removing election posters today, while ANC spokesperson, Khalid Sayed, said they understood the deadline for the removal of the posters had been extended.
“We are in the process of removing our posters. In my understanding, the deadline has been extended. However, our people are busy with the process of removing the posters,” said Sayed.
Posters were still visible in Kraaifontein, Brackenfell, Gugulethu and Stellenbosch yesterday. EFF spokesperson, Wandile Kabisa, said the process of removing the posters has been slow due to different challenges, such as the bad weather conditions.
“We are busy removing our posters. It's a process that needs a lot of things, such as resources and so on, but we are busy removing our posters,” said Kabisa.
DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said the Cape Metro is vast and that the progress of removing election posters has been slow, however, they are busy removing the posters.
“We are busy removing the posters. The metro is big, but we are making progress,” said Simmers.
Posters have been an integral part of the election campaign for many parties leading up to the elections.
According to some political parties, election posters, which are mostly hung from street lamp posts, can cost about R25 each, depending on size and quality, and a good quality poster might cost a political party close to R70.
Cape Argus