The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has spoken the last word on the five-year legal battle regarding two monopole gantries in the east of Pretoria – they must once and for all be removed. A Pretoria News report says the City of Tshwane first turned to the court in 2014 during which it obtained an urgent interdict against a company called Lesego Media, which erected the gantries or billboards in contravention of the municipal by-laws. Judge Neil Tuchten in 2014 interdicted Lesego from proceeding with the erection of the structures. Lesego did not at the time oppose the application as it said it never knew of the court proceedings. The company in subsequent court papers said the order only came to its attention in 2015, following which it then filed opposing papers. In opposing a final order against it, the lawyers for Lesego argued that the Tshwane by-laws relating to the erection of advertising structures did not apply to these gantries. It argued that these were not visible from public spaces within the Tshwane municipal area. Acting Judge JJC Swanepoel in his judgment said the question was why did they believe it was appropriate to erect large gantries without municipal consent in the first place. ‘Even if they believed that the land owner had consented to the construction, they must have realised that Tshwane also had to approve the erection of the structures. Furthermore, once they were advised that the consent letters had been forged, they should have approached the department to determine for themselves where the truth lay,’ the judge said. The judge also ordered the respondents to pay the legal bills for all the applications over the past few years relating to this issue.