As law enforcement ramps up policing on the roads, more than 100 motorists were arrested for lockdown non-compliance.
Only essential service workers are allowed out of their homes. This is an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Two truck drivers were arrested in Kagiso, west of Johannesburg. They were transporting liquor, worth millions of rand. A prohibited item under the lockdown rules. They have since been charged.
Police, assisted by SANDF members, conducted various roadblocks in and around Johannesburg. Several motorists were arrested. They face a fine of R1500 or a six-month jail term for breaking the lockdown rules.
Motorists have welcomed increased policing on the roads.
5 200 people arrested in North West
Police in the North West have raised concerns about the increasing number of people arrested for contravening the nationwide lockdown regulations.
More than 5 200 people have already been arrested in the province since the nationwide lockdown was implemented.
Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing, Major-General Patrick Asaneng, says most of the people were arrested for failure to confine themselves to their residential areas.
Police in the province say people are still loitering the streets, while others are not adhering to the social distancing rule.
Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing, Major-General Patrick Asaneng, says some people seem to not be taking the lockdown seriously.
“What we have observed as the police is that members of the public, in general, are not complying with the lockdown regulations. Some of them, we have seen as we are going around villages and towns where people are taking this lockdown as some form of a joke.”
General Asaneng warns that those who continue to transgress will face the full might of the law.
“We want to raise our concerns because instead of the number of arrests dropping, we have seen the number increasing. Currently, we are standing at 5 248, and 2290 are dockets. The remainder are those members who are issued with admission of guilt fines.”
The unlucky few who have been arrested provided reasons why they are breaking the law.
“I was arrested while walking on the streets. I was going to work, when the police demanded a working permit from me,” says one of them.
Another person says, “I am just at home and doing nothing while my kids are starving. So, I had to come to town in order to sell something so that I should have money to buy food for my children.”
Authorities say they will not compromise compliance of the regulations.
Below are the amended COVID-19 regulations:
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Other provinces have also seen South Africans not adhering to the regulations.
