Political parties in the Mangaung Metro have until November 18 to remove all their poster across the city. According to Mangaung Municipal bylaws, all party branding should be off the poles and other municipal properties in 14 days.
Failing to do so will lead to political parties being penalized by the city.
Although it’s only been a few days after the Local Government Elections and the focus has shifted to coalition talks.
Political parties have to ensure that all posters used for campaigning are removed, failing to remove, political parties will have to fork out around R360 per poster.
The city manager says after the time frame has lapsed, the city will remove any campaign material left behind, with the costs charged to the respective parties.
“The municipality promulgated bylaws in 2019, that commands all parties to remove their parties’ 14 days after elections. So, if they don’t remove these posters, in 14 days, there’s a fine for posters and there’s a fine for flags as well, for posters, is about R361, for flags is about R358, so they must remove them 14 days after elections.” says Sello More, Mangaung Metro city manager.
Some political parties including the ACDP and DA have already started removing their campaign material in some parts of Bloemfontein. ACDP says it is removing its posters to avoid vandalism.
“My concern is three-fold, my first one is that weather, like winds, might tear the posters down from the posts, and you may get damaged. My second concern is vandalism, but you can find people tearing it down. My third concern is, if the posters are flying around, it might come before the traffic and make some damage, and you don’t want that to happen.” says ACDP provincial secretary Tommy Lessing.
More has urged political parties to comply and take responsibility for cleaning up after the elections and complying with municipal bylaws.