Francesca Villette
THE City’s action against Ndifuna Ukwazi organiser and Reclaim the City supporter Ntombi Sambu for drawing chalk murals along the Sea Point promenade has been slammed as vindictive.
City law enforcement approached Sambu and handed her a notice to appear in court or pay R1 500 for what it said was “vandalising” of the promenade.
Sambu was among about 40 supporters who drew images on the wall with images of an inclusive city and called to stop the provincial government’s R135 million sale of the Tafelberg School site to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School. Others wrote about life without access to decent sanitation or housing or safe streets. The activists want the site to be used for affordable housing, particularly for poor people such as domestic workers who have worked in the area for years.
Ndifuna Ukwazi has joined the campaign driven by Reclaim the City. Their defence representative Mandisa Shandu said yesterday the organisation’s members would meet to discuss how they would deal with the City’s action.
“There is no basis to pay the fine, and we are of the view that it’s more about the message we are spreading that they don’t like. It is totally absurd. Sambu did apply for permission, but this went unnoticed,” Shandu said.
Mayco member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, said the decision was in line with the City’s by-laws and the City could have pursued criminal charges.
“Permission is easily attainable. She can either pay the fine or appear in court. The decision is not politically driven,” Smith said.
The City’s 2010 graffiti by-law states that no person shall, within the area of jurisdiction of the City, without a permit issued by the City, apply graffiti or cause graffiti to be applied to property, natural surface, or wall, fence, structure or thing in any street or other public place.
Thandeka Sisusa, a domestic worker and Reclaim the City’s spokesperson in Sea Point, said the City was being vindictive in its decision to fine Sambu, and if it had been white people drawing the murals on the wall they would not have been prosecuted.