The City of Cape Town has faced criticism and received backlash over its decision to paint over a mural of a Palestine flag that was put up in the area of Lavender Hill.
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The decision by the City sparked outrage from many across social media platforms as it raised the question of why law enforcement officials were able to respond so quickly to get rid of a mural that showed support for Palestine, yet remain quiet to respond to the high rates of drugs, crime and gang violence.
The video, originally posted by social commentator Moeshfika Botha, showed the mural being covered by red paint. Botha spoke about how the members of Lavender Hill and areas alike in Cape Town should not accept the DA’s governance and failure to recognise the real issues in those areas.
‘The DA and the City of Cape Town are pure rubbish! Lavender Hill right now:,’ read the caption.
‘They can send law enforcement to protect CoCT workers who paint over a Palestinian flag on one of the flats. But they cannot send them to ordinarily paint the Flats to keep them clean or send law enforcement to protect the people. They will leave the gangsters’ graffiti! But they want the Palestine flag down.’
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In response to the video, the City of Cape Town took to X saying that the community would be able to apply to re-erect the mural following an agreement with the Graffiti Unit officials, as the building is council-owned.
‘Good day, community members responsible for the mural have agreed to apply for permission to have the mural reinstalled following an engagement with Graffiti Unit officials this morning. This is a public building consisting of council-owned affordable rental units,’ the City said.
In general, the process by which a recognised artist or organisation commissioned to produce artwork applies for a Public Art Permit is outlined in Section 9 of the City’s Graffiti by-law of 2010, which can be accessed here: https://t.co/dPFVpqKm6I
Thank you.
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) January 9, 2024
Section 9 of the City’s Graffiti by-law titled ‘Permits for artwork and decorations’ states the following:
Any person who intends to apply a mural or any one of or a combination of any inscription, word, figure, letter, sign, symbol, sketch, picture, drawing or design to any natural surface or man-made surface on any property, which will be visible to a person from a public place, must apply in writing to the authorised official for a permit to do so.
However, people have raised the question of graffiti, gang signs and names still being on public buildings, seeing as these are often a ‘combination of inscription, word, figure, letter, sign, symbol, sketch, picture, drawing or design’ as mentioned in the by-law, IOL reported.
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Picture: screenshot from video
