Mask mandate: Police must warn you before making arrest
Police must warn you to wear your face mask before making an arrest.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced a mask mandate for the country in a bid to get Covid-19 infections under control.
The mandate calls for anyone in a public space to wear their mask – failure to do so is a prosecutable offense.
The adjusted level 3 regulations were gazetted on Tuesday.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) says law enforcement can only arrest you for not complying with a verbal instruction by an officer to wear a face mask.
“The regulations are very clear in that whilst everyone is mandated to wear masks, police are only authorised to arrest people after they fail to comply with the instruction to put on their mask,” says LHR deputy director Wayne Ncube.
“It is not criminal to not wear your mask, it’s criminal to fail to observe the instruction of an enforcement officer.
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South Africans are warned that ignoring the mask mandate could result in a harsh penalty of six months behind bars.
Ncube adds the prison term is in line with other petty crimes.
“A six-month jail sentence is the maximum sentencing of most petty crimes, so it’s more an upper limit to show that this not a serious offense.”
Ncube says he isn’t aware of any arrests yet for failure to comply with the mask mandate.
“We have not heard any cases yet, but we have encountered situations of people being arrested for failing to adhere to the curfew of being out after 9pm but nothing in terms of the mask as yet but it’s still early day.”
Ncube fears there may be a backlog in the criminal system if South Africans don’t comply with regulations.
“The important thing is to always have your mask with you if you go outside in a public area and to always be able to put it on if you are instructed to.
“Obviously there is the exceptions to when you have to wear a mask like if you’re running or engaging in rigorous exercise, but the important thing is to always have the ability to put in on if you are instructed by a police officer,” Ncube warns.
Listen to Ncube below:
