Mbombela - Political parties have been given until Thursday to remove campaign posters from the streets of Mpumalanga's capital city.
Spokesperson for the Mbombela local municipality, Joseph Ngala, said political parties that ignored the deadline would be penalised.
"We have given all the parties seven days from May 19 to remove the posters from Mbombela and surrounding areas. Parties who fail to meet Thursday's deadline will forfeit their deposits," said Ngala.
Ngala said each party paid a deposit before hanging any posters in the municipal area. The deposit is refundable after the elections, provided the posters are removed within seven days.
He said the ANC, which won the majority of the votes, and its main opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had already started to clean up.
DA provincial leader and member of the provincial legislature, Anthony Benadie, said the opposition party started removing its posters a day after the elections.
"We have started the removal process and we will continue doing so until the end of this week," said Benadie.
Benadie said the DA urged its supporters and community members to telephone the opposition party's offices if they spotted any DA posters within the municipal area.
"If we receive a phone call informing us about the presence of our posters, we will immediately go remove them," said Benadie.
Provincial ANC spokesperson Paul Mbenyane said the party had already instructed its people to remove party posters.
"We have advised some people to remove the posters, but I am not sure if they have already started. We will make sure that all the posters are removed this week," said Mbenyane.
The African People's Convention party provincial spokesperson, Ernest Hlathi, said the party started removing its posters on Friday.
"We started the removal process on Friday. In (Mbombela) we have removed all our posters, and we have instructed one of our men to continue with the process in Hazyview and other areas," said Hlathi. "We were informed that other posters were seen in Marite, so we will send a person to remove them."
Nationally, all political parties have until Thursday to remove their election posters.
The Johannesburg metro police department says parties who fail to do so could face fines of between R200 and R1 000 for every poster that is not removed.
