‘Heed rules in country’s hotspots’

RESIDENTS in areas identified as new infection hotspots in the Covid-19 pandemic have been urged to tread cautiously during level 3 of the national lockdown.

Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko, who joined a lockdown operation in Soshanguve at the weekend, said security stakeholders had been doing their best in recent days to brief residents on the high number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in hotspots.

Mazibuko said tracers were already on the ground working to get as many people as possible to get screened and possibly go into quarantine.

She said they had decided to get out to urge communities to take the pandemic very seriously and not be dismissive of the leadership’s advice.

“It is here in Soshanguve, Soweto, Ivory Park, Tembisa, it is in the West Rand because of the mining town area and even some parts of Orange Farm, that is why we are still going out to these places to inform people.

“People simply don’t comply, you say wear a mask and they want to argue. There may be people who’ve been killed by corona here. We don’t say where but it should be noted that this thing has killed people.”

Mazibuko said she was disappointed that quite a number of people were out in public without their masks on. Some drivers even gave excuses for not having their masks on them like being alone in the vehicle, she said.

She said she was worried about where townships that had picked up more infections would be heading if their attitudes to the virus did not change.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela said security clusters were carrying out operations in Soshanguve as they were balancing the crime efforts in the area as well as heeding Premier David Makhura’s concern over the increased infections.

“The regulations are there and where it is written it is prohibited. According to the levels, we will continue to enforce until the set date. Anyone found not complying with the rules will have to face the consequences.”