Cape Town - The legend “Zuma must fall” appeared on Cape Town’s biggest billboard on Friday illegally, according to the city council which said it had referred the matter for prosecution.
“The large billboard which has been erected by a private party on private property in the central city does not comply with the City of Cape Town’s Outdoor Advertising and Signage By-law. The billboard has also been erected in contravention of the National Building Regulations and Standards Act.
“An application for the billboard in question was not received by the City. This matter has therefore been handed over for prosecution,” the city said on Friday afternoon, after the billboard had sparked a twitter frenzy and a mention on the BBC’s Africa Live news site.
CT building gets ‘Zuma Must Fall’ sign
The call for Zuma to leave office - which became a rallying cry some way through the student protests over university fees late last year - was written in bold black letters on a plain white background on the billboard on the Overbeek block of flats at the top end of Long Street.
The head of the company responsible for the renting out the billboard did not return calls to his mobile phone on Friday, and the identity of the person who paid to have it erected remained a mystery.
An insider in the billboard advertising business told ANA it was commonly accepted in the industry that renting the particular billboard cost R400 000 a month.
“It is roughly half the price of taking out a double page advert in the Sunday Times,” he jokingly added.
The Democratic Alliance, which holds political control of Cape Town and the Western Cape, denied that it had any hand in the board going up.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema told ANA he did not know who was responsible for the billboard but applauded the sentiment.
African News Agency
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