Brigadier
Donovan Heilbron, Overberg District Police commander, has expressed extreme
concern for people’s disregard of lockdown regulations that came into effect at
midnight on Thursday 26 March.
“Many people
are not serious about the lockdown measures that have been implemented – it
seems that they have gone into holiday mode instead of lockdown despite the
fact that one person has already died due to Covid-19 and more than 1 000
have been infected,” said the Brigadier.
He revealed
that at least three people had been arrested on Friday in the early morning
hours for not complying with lockdown regulations, hours after the lockdown
came into effect across South Africa.
Provincial
Traffic Chief Kenny Africa also reported that 17 people had been arrested on
the province’s roads for not adhering to regulations pertaining to the lockdown.
Rules
and regulations
These
regulations, aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, state that members of the
public are only allowed to leave their homes to buy essential goods such as
groceries, health supplies and fuel, to collect a social grant or to seek medical
care. Movement between cities, towns and provinces is also prohibited. Jogging
or walking your dog have also been prohibited.
All social
gatherings, even at home, are banned. In the event of funerals, only 50 people
are allowed to attend and even then, mourners have to adhere to social distance
policies.
Those rendering
essential services such as the police, soldiers, health care workers, traffic
officials, Correctional Services officials, people in the financial industry, electricity
and water suppliers, essential municipal and government employees, funeral and
mortuary services, cleaning and sanitation services, certain transport
providers and those involved in the media industry will however have to carry a
special permit signed by their employer to identify them as essential service
providers plus their identity document with them at all times.
Breaking
the law
Heilbron reports
that one pedestrian was arrested in Caledon and two more in Sandbaai, Hermanus
at 01:00 and 04:00 on Friday after failing
to provide the necessary documents stating that they are essential workers or a
reasonable explanation for being on the road after lockdown measures came into
effect.
“Charges of
the possession of dangerous weapons were added to the case of the two suspects
who were arrested in Sandbaai,” the Brigadier added.
In addition
to this, stated Heilbron, suspects were also arrested in Kleinmond and Caledon
for trading in liquor after midnight on Thursday 26 March, contravening the
regulations which state that no liquor is to be sold during the 21-day lockdown
period.
“We
confiscated a large quantity of liquor at these liquor outlets which did not
have a license to sell liquor at all,” said the Overberg District Police
commander.
Licensed liquor
traders who are caught selling alcohol during the lockdown period face severe
punishment. “Outlets caught contravening the regulations,” explained Heilbron, “will
have its license revoked, be issued a spot fine of R1 500 and arrested for
not adhering to the regulations as promulgated by National Police Minister
Bheki Cele.”
Safety
of children
Heilbron
also expressed concern about the number of children being seen in the streets.
“We call on
the parents to take responsibility for their children, to ensure that the
children’s movement is minimized and to inform and educate their children about
the lockdown measures,” said Heilbron. “All we can do is to take the children
back into the care of their parents.”
Fake
news
All police
officials, said Heilbron, will now work 12-hours shifts to ensure that there
are enough police officials on duty around the clock.
The police
will work in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies such as municipal
and provincial traffic departments, Law Enforcement Officials and the Public
Order Police unit. Neighbourhood watches, said the Brigadier, do not form part
of essential services and can only be called upon by station commanders to
assist the police when the need arises.
He pointed
at that the SANDF has not been deployed to the area, and added: “I am aware of
a message doing the rounds on social media stating that the SANDF will be
deployed to areas such as Hawston and Zwelihle. This is fake and we have opened
an enquiry to investigate where this message originated. People who spread fake
new pertaining to covid-19 will be prosecuted and will face six months
imprisonment, a fine or depending of the severity of the message both
imprisonment and a fine.”
Heilbron
added that the police will in cooperation with traffic officials will execute
roaming Vehicle Check Points (VCPs) to ensure that vehicles transporting farm
workers and members of the public comply with regulations.
“We will
also do patrols to check whether big retailers and spaza shops adhere to social
distancing, the amount of people allowed inside the shop and sanitizing. If
these businesses do not comply with regulations, they can be issued a fine or
closed down,” explained the Brigadier.
To ensure
that everyone is educated about and sensitized to the dangers of Covid-19
police officials will go into certain areas with loudspeakers to address the
communities.
