Harare Gives Billboard Bandits 7 Days to Comply or Pay the Price

The City of Harare has launched a bold blitz on illegal billboards, issuing a stern ultimatum to property owners: regularize your signage within seven working days or face the financial consequences.

In a public notice, the city says it’s coming for unauthorized advertising structures mushrooming on council road verges and private properties.

The notice warns that failure to comply will trigger removals, with the cost of tearing down the signage being slapped onto offenders’ rates accounts.

“The City of Harare would like to inform stakeholders and residents that we will be removing all illegal billboards within Harare,” the statement reads.

“Most of these illegal billboards are on council road verges and private properties. Council is encouraging all property owners who have such billboards to engage Council within seven working days for possible regularization.”

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Those who ignore the directive will be hit with penalties under the Harare (Control of Advertising Signs) By-law of 1981, as amended in 2015 which gives the Acting Director of Urban Planning authority to pull down offending billboards and charge the costs to the responsible property owners.

The city is also inviting objections or representations, but those must land on the Director of Urban Planning’s desk within the seven-day window.

This operation signals a growing frustration within City Hall over the unregulated advertising chaos that has cluttered Harare’s skyline, with some billboards even blocking visibility and compromising public safety.