Joburg billboards under fire

Over 70 percent of the huge billboards, banners and wraparounds erected across Joburg are illegal.

Johannesburg - Over 70 percent of the huge billboards, banners and wraparounds erected across Joburg are illegal.

And now the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) has warned the outdoor advertising industry that not only will these billboards be taken down, but the companies will be fined and the boards and materials confiscated.

Speaking at an outdoor advertising indaba this week, City of Joburg member of the mayoral committee responsible for economic development, councillor Ruby Mathang, said the current situation could not continue.

Going forward, he said, instead of the city spending money on lawyers and issuing court interdicts against these companies, it would take the billboards down itself and charge the culprits.

It is estimated that the outdoor advertising industry generates R32 billion a year in revenue, of which a large portion is being lost to the JPC.

Over and above the the billboards, there were thousands of illegal street posters, adverts on bus shelters and bins and hundreds of unauthorised estate agent boards, he said.

Helen Botes, chief executive of the JPC, warned industry members that the JPC would take stringent measures to minimise non-compliant advertising.

“The volume of illegality is difficult to monitor daily - you wake up and there is another sign with an untraceable owner. The larger-than-permissible signs are getting bigger and bigger and we have increasing numbers of caravans and cars carrying adverts, as well as murals with no approvals,” she said.

The JPC, which is mandated to manage and conclude leases on behalf of the city, is auditing outdoor media and plans to rid the city of “visual clutter” during the next six months. The number and size of outdoor signage, relative to the area, would also be better managed to reduce the clutter, she said.

Botes admitted the processes for approving applications for the billboards was slow, but the JPC had undertaken to improve this.

She said there had not been enough transformation in the industry.

“The number of SMMEs has not increased by number or diversity.”

Jack Sekgobela, of the city’s planning department, warned that besides the fact that illegal signs posed a safety risk, it was costing ratepayers money to fight non-compliant advertisers.

Peter Lindström, chairman of industry body Out of Home Media Association, said measures had been put in place to uplift the industry and the outdoor space was well regulated, but the enforcement was weak.

Lindström highlighted the slow response to approval applications, changes in by-laws and illegal boards being erected in front of approved structures.

“The value of each media site diminishes the whole. As more are built, the value of the individual declines.

“Fair consideration should be given to what the media player has invested in the space and there should be fair and swift enforcement of the current laws,” he said.

The one-day conference, hosted by JPC, brought together 200 industry professionals to engage with the JPC and city planning department on this issue.

anna.cox@inl.co.za; @annacox

samantha.hartshorne@inl.co.za

The Star