Persuasion power: President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses members of the SA National Defence Force in Johannesburg on Thursday, before their national lockdown deployment.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on SA’s security forces to save lives and not violate the rights of people as SA goes into the first day of a lockdown that started at midnight on Thursday.
By Friday the armed forces were meant to have already been deployed across the country to enforce the 21-day lockdown to battle Covid-19.
Stringent regulations not seen since the apartheid-era states of emergency have been put in place to contain the pandemic, which by Wednesday had infected at least 927 people in SA. The measures include the closure of liquor shops, bars and taverns and schools, the closure of all the country’s borders to human traffic and the suspension of public train and bus services.
For 21 days the economy will for the most part come to a complete standstill, while SA citizens will be confined to their homes and their rights will be severely limited and policed. The SA
National Defence Force (SANDF) will support the SA Police Service (SAPS) in enforcing these strict regulations nationwide.
Ramaphosa addressed a joint gathering of the SANDF and police on Thursday. He told the SAPS in Pretoria that the aim of the lockdown was to save lives.
He said people who want to take chances or do “wrong things” during the lockdown must face the wrath of the state but added that the police should not do anything to violate the rights of residents, either by mistake or intentionally.
‘“Let us do right by the people of SA and save their lives,” Ramaphosa said.
The lockdown will mean that ordinary people who do not deliver an essential service will be allowed to leave their homes only for reasons strictly limited to buying food or medicine, visiting a doctor or collecting a social grant.
SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini stressed that the enforcement of the regulations by the armed forces will be based on a relationship of trust with residents and citizens.
He said the SANDF will act in a supporting role to the SAPS, as SA is not in a state of emergency, but a state of disaster. The lockdown is being enforced using the Disaster Management Act.
Dlamini said the SANDF will set up roadblocks and conduct patrols. The military medical personnel deployed will have as first responsibility the wellbeing of SANDF soldiers, but they will also support the civilian health service if needed.
Neither the SANDF nor the SAPS were willing to give details as to how many soldiers and officers are to be deployed for the lockdown.
Brig Vishnu Naidoo, spokesperson for the SAPS, said the police’s job is to ensure the objectives of the lockdown are met and that everyone in the country stays at home.
Roadblocks will be used, while streets, highways and byways will be cordoned off and officers will also mount vehicle patrols to ensure that people stay away from the country’s streets and public places.
The aim of the lockdown is to “drastically reduce the movement of people in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19” and that the SAPS is confident people will comply with the regulations, just like they complied with instructions after the president first announced the state of disaster on March 15.
PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TAKE CHANCES OR DO WRONG THINGS DURING THE LOCKDOWN MUST FACE THE WRATH OF THE STATE
THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE REGULATIONS BY THE ARMED FORCES WIL BE BASED ON A RELATIONSHIP OF TRUST WITH RESIDENTS, CITIZENS