Offending KFC ad removed from Durban building

The removal of a giant advertisement enveloping a city building was a victory for the tenants ‘who had given up all hope’, said an advocacy group on Monday.

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Durban - The removal of a giant advertisement enveloping a city building was a victory for the tenants “who had given up all hope”, said an advocacy group on Monday.

“They are jubilant and also secure in the knowledge that the landlord’s threat of imposing a fine and taking criminal action against them (if they destroyed it) was a smoke screen to silence them,” said Iqbal Mohamed, chairman of the Organisation of Civic Rights, the tenants advocacy group, which the worried tenants at the Tasnim Centre building in Bertha Mkhize (Victoria) Street turned to for help last week.

The banner was removed on Saturday, the day after the Daily News carried a report explaining how the tenants were living inside an advert and the wrap-around mesh cloth, advertising KFC and generating some misery.

Mohamed attributed the removal of the banner to the publicity about the issue.

Tenants had complained the banner, which stretched from the fifth to the 12th floor (the residential floors) of the 13-storey building, was depriving them of fresh air.

A tenant, who did not want to be named, said the steam from cooking stayed in her home because it could not go anywhere because of the advert.

“They’re suffocating us. They are making money at our expense and they can’t even fix the lift for more than a year.”

Another tenant complained his flat was hot and stuffy and said “we can’t breathe”.

Tenants said they had received a notice asking for their “help” in keeping the advert in good condition and making sure nobody damaged or interfered with it.

One man recalled that people had cut a previous one up to let air into their homes.

Hafiz Mohamed, an agent handling the building’s non-rental income on behalf of the owners, MHT Investments, said the advert went up the week before and that it would run until “some time” next month.

No authorisation had been sought from the eThekwini Municipality but structural and fire inspections had been carried out to ensure the site was 100 % safe. Approval had been given by engineers.

He said he had not received any complaints from tenants and was unsure why they were unhappy because the material used was mesh.

He said the advertising income was beneficial to tenants because it helped reduce the maintenance cost for the common areas, which meant tenants would not get increased rentals.

He also said the site would continue to be marketed.

However, Iqbal Mohamed said the tenants were distraught because they felt boxed in. He felt the canvas banner posed a health risk and his organisation would take legal action. He felt KFC had “a moral obligation” to assess where their adverts were being placed.

The municipality was asked to comment on the issue last week, but had not done so by the time the story was published. Further queries were sent to the municipality on Monday, but no response was received.

The owners of the building could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.

The Organisation of Civic Rights also sent a complaint about the signage covering much of the building to the municipality and was told the complaint had been logged and sent to the relevant environmental health practitioner who would handle the issue.

Mohamed was not sure if the municipality had taken any action “but I want to believe that the article made people uncomfortable. In any event, the advert has gone and the tenants are happy,” he said.

How the Daily News covered the story on Friday.

Daily News