As a Joburg resident, ratepayer and urban activist and like so many others in South Africa, I have been horrified by witnessing the collapse of the public realm in South African cities. Like failed states to the north of South Africa, the public realm and the state of public infrastructure is a litmus test of the functionality and levels of corruption within the public sector institutions.
This infrastructure is usually municipal owned, but the councils do nothing to prevent it and the posters are seldom removed. Then there are also the ones that are selling things like “quick abortions” and “lost lover” retrieval, which are inevitably done by unlicensed practitioners in unsafe conditions.
This proliferation of illegal posters, which has become widespread in all South Africa towns and cities, fits the “broken window” theory, which started in New York as the city fathers were trying to transform the city for the better. It adds: “In South Africa, with its richness and diversity of landscapes and cultures, it is of the utmost importance that the element of local character should be strengthened and enhanced when and wherever possible.”