The Tshwane metropolitan council would not commit itself on Tuesday to removing all forms of advertising proclaiming Tshwane rather than Pretoria as South Africa’s capital.
Such advertisements have been found to be misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) — a ruling the council said it respects.
Council spokesperson William Baloyi said he sees ”no problem” with remaining signage referring to the ”City of Tshwane”, but when asked whether it will be removed, Baloyi declined to comment.
The ASA last week rejected an appeal by the council against an earlier ruling that the statement ”City of Tshwane, Africa’s leading capital city” was misleading.
A grouping calling itself Pretoria Civil Action lodged a complaint with the authority in March after the council used this slogan in a television advertisement.
The group comprises the trade union Solidarity, the Gauteng North Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organisations and other bodies campaigning for the retention of the name Pretoria.
The ASA ruled in May that the commercial was misleading as the name of the city has not been officially changed. The name ”Tshwane” refers to a broader municipal area, which includes the city of Pretoria.
Later that month, Pretoria Civil Action complained that the council was persisting in its marketing campaign.
The authority found in June that the council’s continued advertising was in breach of its prior ruling, and imposed a sanction in the form of an adverse publicity statement.
It meant the council had to pay for advertisement on national television and two newspapers, stating that it had misled the public.
The council lodged an appeal, which the ASA dismissed last week. But it put aside the punitive order, saying a ”wilful disregard” had not been established.
ASA spokesperson Dineo Pooe said on Tuesday the ruling refers to all forms of advertising, including T-shirts, signs at bus stops and outdoor banners.
In terms of the official definition, advertising refers to ”any visual or oral communication, representation, reference or notification … intended to promote the sale, leasing or use of any goods or services or which appeals for or promotes the support of any cause”.
A city will be considered a ”product” in this sense.
The ASA’s jurisdiction, Pooe said, extends only to its members, of whom the council is not one.
But it can order its members, if the council persists in its campaign, not to carry the misleading advertisements. Members include the Print Media Federation of South Africa, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Outdoor Advertising Association.
Ordering the council to publish corrective advertisements is the harshest form of sanction the ASA can impose, Pooe said.
She wasn’t sure if such an order can be re-issued if need be, given that the matter has already gone through all the ASA’s appeal processes.
The ASA’s work is focused not on issuing penalties but on instilling respect for the spirit of the advertising code among its members.
”We seek to correct rather than to punish,” she said.
Pretoria Civil Action spokesperson Kallie Kriel said the body will be given a fair opportunity to remove the offending advertisements.
”If after a month we still see any of the advertisements, we will bring it under the ASA’s attention,” he said. — Sapa