THE GRAFFITI TEAM

The Graffiti Team was initiated by Nava Pillay, SEO: Housing, City Planning and Environmental Management. The team functions within the Development Control Unit and has been operational since 10 October 2005.

Functions

Currently, the team is busy in the Pretoria CBD area, carrying out their tasks which include the following:

• Removing advertising signs that are glued to bus shelters, traffic sign poles, parking meters, electrical boxes, etc, by scraping them off.
• Removing graffiti from walls facing the street by using a solvent or by painting over it with black paint.
• Removing illegal advertising signs from bridges and then giving the pillars/retaining walls a special coat of cement wash.
• Removing illegal posters from trees and traffic sign poles.

Results

It seems that cleaning or painting the surfaces has made it easier to trace and summons new culprits. During the past month the Development Control Unit has achieved an almost 100% conviction rate for this type of offender, and the perpetrators have been fined an average of R1 500,00 in the Hatfield and Rondalia Municipal Courts.

Achievements

Since operations started, the team has cleaned an area covering 71 street blocks. They have cleaned and painted 215 electricity boxes, 51 Telkom boxes, 7 postal boxes, 3 bridges, and 216 m2 of walls.