The city of Johannesburg’s executive mayor, Geoff Makhubo has raised concerns that residents of the city are not adhering to the lockdown regulations.
Makhubo says the majority of COVID-19 cases in Gauteng are in Johannesburg. He says this confirms that as the City they have to enforce compliance in an effort to avoid the spread of the virus.
Makhubo together with the Johannesburg Metro Police were at a roadblock near Diepsloot conducting lockdown roadblocks.
Some could not explain why they are on the road. He says Johannesburg is the epicentre of the virus in Gauteng.
About 70 people were arrested for non-compliance in Johannesburg:
“I am worried about it but we are preparing for the pick. I don’t think we have reached the peak yet but we are trying to prevent from getting there. In order to do that we need to stay home.”
“We have to self-quarantine. We have to self isolate. Of course, there areas difficult areas like informal settlements. There are difficult areas like defomalising areas like Diepsloot down but we have to enforce the law, we have no choice.”
Many people are not obeying the regulations and police had to act. Makhubo says some people abuse their permits.
“There are too many cars on the road, to many people on the road. We think one is just producing a permit to an essential service in Kriel in Mpumalanga and he is here this is an abuse of permits.”
Johannesburg Metro Police spokesperson, Wayne Minnaar has also appealed to people not to disregard the lockdown regulations.
“It is important that we comply during this period of lockdown and that everyone should be at home if they don’t have to be on the road for an essential function. Essential to go buy food or grocery or if it’s for medical reason or emergency, but other than that they must be at home.”
Dozens of people have been arrested during the operation.
The graph below highlights the top stories of the second week of lockdown:
The coronavirus has so far claimed 25 lives and infected 2 173 in South Africa.
