Durban Hatching plan to deal with Graffiti

By Heinz de BoerDurban's top municipal events team is hatching plans to deal with graffiti amid warnings of an explosion of spray paint-related crimes.City manager Dr Michael Sutcliffe on Wednesday had harsh words for parents who shelter children known to be defacing the city, saying there was not one graffiti vandal who was "not known by someone". His comments come after another warning from Durban graffiti expert Gary Roper, who said "taggers" were going to increasingly brazen lengths to deface public property.
'I am seeing fresh tags on a daily basis'Council electricity boxes, Telkom infrastructure and Metro rail coaches are the preferred targets of the taggers."A 'cru' (or tagging crew) will tag and claim a wall, road sign, school, shopping centres and, lately, vehicles, to call it theirs. "That's until another cru claims it by exerting more elaborate and colourful scribbles. If these tags are not removed straight away, it is deemed as a free for all in the graffiti world," he said.Roper now believes the city's 2010 ambitions could be tarnished by taggers determined to find acclaim within the graffiti community. The more brazen and dangerous the tagging or mural, the bigger kudos the artist scores from fellow taggers."I am seeing fresh tags on a daily basis. Durban has no idea of the magnitude of graffiti vandalism we have on our hands," Roper said. "I have visited many train stations and have found ticket booths are so badly covered in spray paint that you have to talk to the person through the gap in the glass, as you cannot see the ticket seller."But Sutcliffe has defended Durban, saying it sported less graffiti than many European cities, including Rome."Graffiti is one of the issues that were raised at an events committee, and there are a few things we are working on to address it. "We need to take pride in our city and graffiti is awful, but parents need to take charge of their children. If they have 20 canisters in their cupboards, their parents know what's going on," Sutcliffe said.Residents who would like to join an anti-graffiti campaign can visit www.graffiticlear-2010.co.za
This article was originally published on page 5 of Daily News on January 17, 2008