Mayor slams drunkards as threat looms

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality mayor Luleka Gubhula slammed the gross disregard by residents of the lockdown rules since the unbanning of the sale of alcohol on June 1. Gubhula said June 1 seemed like New Year s

’ Eve as residents across all areas of the local authority lined up in snaking queues, risking their lives while waiting to purchase liquor.

June 1 was the most horrific day I have ever “seen in Enoch Mgijima since the lockdown started.

It seemed like New Year s Eve because “’ people drank despairingly, ignoring all the regulations to keep themselves safe. People were seen in public areas drinking,

“some hosted sit-ins with their acquaintances and I do not believe they maintained physical distancing and regularly washed their hands while they were drunk.”

The mayor said people neglected the fact that the Chris Hani area was a hotspot for the coronavirus and that EMLM was the epicentre, with the highest number of infections in the area. This is not new information because EMLM “currently has 372 infections and 12 deaths. This is a big number and people have been “carelessly going about their lives as if we are not dealing with a deadly virus.

This means if we continue to disregard the “rules, we are far from conquering this pandemic and our plans may be on hold for a lengthier period.

They neglected the fact that Chris Hani was a “hotspot and that EMLM recorded the highest number of cases in the district statistics.” Gubhula said the municipality s joint

’ operations committee dealing with Covid-19 continued to hold meetings, and that at the latest gathering it was noted that the police were not helping much in enforcing the regulations. However, we agreed in the meeting that the

“police may have their own plans on how they were going to do things which we are probably not aware of,” he said.

On the other hand, Sassa is still working to “ensure that social grant payments are made in a safe manner.

We availed all our venues to them to “conduct payments from, to avoid long queues, and to encourage physical distancing.”

This week, a report from the provincial command council indicated that its chairperson, premier Oscar Mabuyane, would mobilise for the banning of alcohol in the Eastern Cape after shocking crime reports related to alcohol since “” its unbanning.