Summons to be served for huge Zuma Must Fall sign

SIGNAGE company Independent Outdoor Media will be summonsed within the next day or two over the massive billboard stating “Zuma Must Fall” that went up in central Cape Town last week.

Yesterday, City of Cape Town spokeswoman Priya Reddy said a summons would be served either yesterday or today on the owner for breaching by-laws regulating the size of billboards in the city.

The company has referred all queries related to the billboard to its owner Brett Dyssel, who had not answered or returned calls.

Reddy said the name of the person who paid to have the billboard erected remained a mystery, but by law, the city could take action against him or her too. Industry insiders say it is believed to have cost R400 000 a month to advertise on that particular billboard.

“We could take action against the signage company, the person who paid them to hire the space, the rigging company who put it up and the owner of the building,” Reddy said.

According to her, the city was never asked for permission to erect the sign, as is required by law.

The city handed the matter to the National Prosecuting Authority on Friday, shortly after the massive sign went up on the Overbeek apartment building at the top of Long Street.

It was torn down on Saturday by angry ANC supporters who gained access to the building and vowed to react more strongly still if something like this happened again.

Reddy said the billboard had been problematic for some time as its size exceeded that allowed by law. But past complaints never made it to court.

The DA, which holds political control of the city, on Friday denied that it had anything to with the sign that went up a month after activists brandished #ZumaMustFall banners at Reconciliation Day protests in the city.

Yesterday, the ANC sought to dismiss calls for the president to be forced to leave office, as an attempt to entrench racism.

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the ruling party was urging all South Africans to “declare war on racism and for political parties to refrain from undermining democracy through calls that undermine a democratic outcome”. He added that “the uninformed call that President Zuma must fall are a ploy to divert a real conversation on racism.” – ANA