A CLEAN-UP campaign was recently held to remove offensive posters, illegally posted in North End in Port Elizabeth.
The initiative, called ‘Simunye’, led by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) Metro Police Department, was held as an exercise to unite members of the community who originally came from other parts of Africa or China and were now naturalised South Africans.
The campaign highlighted communities working hand-in-hand with municipal departments to remove the posters on lamp posts, electrical installations and any other available surface.
Metro Police Chief, Yolande Faro, said the initiative also encouraged others to join in. “It was especially heart-warming when people stepped in to help with more water or a hand when the glue refused to give in,” Faro said.
The Metro Police are responsible for municipal by-law enforcement, traffic law enforcement and crime prevention.
The NMBM Council enacted the Outdoor Advertising By-law on March 25, 2010.
The illegal erection of posters can lead to a fine of at least R1 000.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security, Queenie Pink, lent a hand to help rid the city of unsightly posters, advertising everything from “safe and pain free abortions”, to religious and social events.
Pink added, “If we want to ensure that we fully eradicate these unsightly posters, which are spreading untruths in an attempt to sucker residents out of their hard-earned cash, we have to work closely with the community, as they are living in the targeted areas.
“We would like to build a cleaner and safer city for our residents and therefore need all hands on deck to stop offenders from illegally posting more posters after we cleaned up. I therefore would like to encourage the community to be our eyes and ears where they live.
“Strict by-law enforcement will follow our efforts to aesthetically improve all our suburbs. The reporting of the guilty parties will go a long way to nip this practice in the bud,” Pink said.
Faro said the event was a prevention, educational and clean-up awareness operation, which would be followed by strict enforcement of the by-law.
Prospective poster advertisers can obtain application forms at the Building Inspectorate, Human Settlements Department on the fourth floor at the Mfanasekhaya Gqobose Building (formerly known as Eric Tindale).
