55 arrested in SA on day 1 of lockdown

55 arrested in SA on day 1 of lockdown

Police Minister, Bheki Cele says a total of 55 people were arrested as South Africa went into a national lockdown.

Police minister Bheki Cele on the 55 arrests during day 1 of lockdown
GCIS

“People that were breaking the law, the many regulations, the liquor laws last night, 55 of them were arrested.”


Ministers representing the COVID -19 National Command Council updated the nation on Friday on the status of the lockdown in South Africa.


Speaking in Pretoria alongside several other ministers, Cele said Gauteng led the pack with 20 arrests for breaking lockdown regulations.


“Free Ste we arrested 5, Gauteng we arrested 20 (6 from Alexandra and 14 from the rest of Gauteng), KZN we arrested 7 from the suburb called Montclair, Limpopo we arrested 10, North West we arrested 11 and Western Cape we arrested 2," Cele said.


“These people are people that don’t have goodwill, people that are doing exactly what they were told not to do.”


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Spokesperson for the provincial Department of Transport and Community Safety Matome Moremi says it's not business as usual. "The MEC for Transport and Community Safety Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya is concerned about reports that she has been receiving from concerned members of the community where people continue to behave as things are as normal as yesterday.

Cele vowed to ensure that law and order prevails during the 21-day lockdown that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government will spend making efforts to curb coronavirus.


“We had a good night; we had a success. A big number of South Africans had goodwill. Our phones were abuzz with the reports and the things they were seeing, and they were telling us we need to stop these things,” said Cele.


South Africa now has 1170 COVID-19 infections and 1 death reported in the Western Cape.

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