Political parties warned over posters

ELECTIONEERING in the Northern Cape is becoming potentially deadly as campaigners take their lives into their hands when putting up posters on high-voltage electrical poles.

The Sol Plaatje Municipality issued a stern warning yesterday to all political parties, reminding them to take heed of the by-laws governing posters.

“We are appealing to political parties not to put up posters on electrical poles as it poses a severe danger to the person putting up the poster,” municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie said yesterday.

Parties have also been cautioned not to erect posters on poles carrying overhead transformers.

“In some cases, volunteers putting up posters are scaling electrical poles. This is extremely dangerous as the person is at risk of electrocution,” Matsie said.

“There are also by-laws that state that posters should not be placed near robots or stop signs where they might obstruct a motorist’s view of oncoming traffic.”

Matsie further reminded parties that what goes up, must come down.

“Posters have to be removed within 21 days after the election. In the past we have had incidents were posters were not removed. In these instances, the municipality will remove the posters and send the bill to the political party concerned.”

Matsie said that because many parties were contesting these elections, there were more posters than usual being put up in the city.

Voters in the Northern Cape will be faced with their biggest choice yet with a total of 21 political parties contesting this year’s elections.

This is five more than the 16 that vied for seats in the provincial legislature in the 2014 national and provincial elections.