City’s Graffiti Unit ensures vandals clean up their act

The City of Cape Town’s Graffiti Unit has reported two recent successes whereby vandals were not only fined for applying graffiti illegally, but made to clean it up.

On 15 December 2011, a resident spotted a group of youths applying graffiti in Glencairn and gave chase. The offenders were apprehended and the matter handed over to the City’s Graffiti Unit.

One of the offenders is 18 years old and resides in Sun Valley, while the other two are minors residing in Fish Hoek and Kommetjie respectively. The offenders/their parents were each fined R1 500,00 under the City’s Graffiti By-Law. They were also issued with notices to remove the graffiti at Glencairn Station and in Glen Road. Their parents participated in and supported the process every step of the way.

On 20 December 2011, the Fish Hoek Neighbourhood Watch caught three teenagers in the act of applying graffiti in the Fish Hoek area. They contacted the City’s Graffiti Unit and met up with them at the Fish Hoek Police Station. The Graffiti Unit then contacted the offenders’ parents, instructing them to come to the Police Station as soon as possible.

All three offenders are minors – two from Fish Hoek and one from Big Bay. Each of the offenders/their parents were issued with a fine of R1 500,00 as well as a notice to remove the graffiti.

The Graffiti Unit arranged for the offenders to meet up with the Fish Hoek Neighbourhood Watch at the Fish Hoek Police Station on 31 December 2011. They then removed the graffiti under the supervision of the Fish Hoek Neighbourhood Watch, who reported that the offenders seemed to have learned a lesson through the experience.

Any person issued with a fine for contravention of the Graffiti By-Law is issued with a formal notice to remove the graffiti as well. Non-compliance with this notice results in a further fine.