‘WE’LL ARREST YOU, NO PROBLEM’
Minister says police and soldiers will strictly enforce lockdown regulations if people are not compliant
POLICE Minister Bheki Cele has warned that the police and soldiers will not hesitate to pounce on those who violate the tightened Covid-19 lockdown regulations as they return to the roads to hold roadblocks and patrols.
Cele was yesterday speaking alongside other ministers in the security cluster on the latest regulations by the government as part of its fight against the spread of the coronavirus, which had infected 298292 and killed 4346 people by noon yesterday.
Cele said police were being deployed on all national roads and at provincial borders to enforce compliance and arrest those who failed to obey the regulations.
Interprovincial visits remain prohibited except for work purposes and attendance of family funerals, and the taxi industry has been instructed to only fill minibus taxis at 70% capacity for long distances.
Possession of alcohol on the road has also been criminalised after the ban on the sale of liquor.
“We hope you are not going to give us the job of arresting people that are not complying. This time, we really ask you not to give us the job, but if you want to give us the job, no problem,” he said.
Cele said the police would also continue to enforce compliance with the instruction by the government for minibus taxis to keep windows open when transporting the public, even when it was cold during the winter season.
“We were not told, as the police, what to do if it is cold, except that the windows must be open,” he said.
Cele said the Covid-19 pandemic had also been costly to SAPS members, with 7 021 having been infected.
While 2 021 SAPS members had recovered from the virus, 150remained in hospital and 53 had died, he said.
“The most problematic province for us remains the Western cape, then Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. What is funny is that these provinces are also provinces that are giving us problems when it comes to crime,” he said.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola also warned that compliance officers at facilities and establishments that people visited would end up with jail time and a criminal record should they be successfully prosecuted and convicted for failing to maintain strict compliance with the wearing of face masks.
This comes after the government also decided to legally enforce the wearing of masks.
“You will get a criminal record, even if you are not sentenced to imprisonment and the magistrate decides that the offence must carry a fine,” he said.
Lamola said the government was considering criminally prosecuting individuals who went out in public without masks.
“This issue of criminalising in the general public remains on the agenda.
:There is an assessment, and if we are convinced that there is still non-compliance, that is the next leg that the government will take to then criminalise altogether the non-wearing of masks in public,” he said.