Obey the rules or face closure, Makhura warns businesses

Gauteng premier David Makhura has threatened to close all businesses in the province that fail to comply with Level 4 lockdown regulations.

Addressing the media at a temporary testing station at a Diepsloot recreational park on Friday, Makhura said: “In Gauteng, [we] can’t be going back to Level 5. We are at the beginning of Level 4. We are watching sectors that pose a threat.

“Next week, we are going to inspect retail businesses in the province. We will enforce strict measures. If there are risks in companies that don’t observe regulations and become sources of infections, we will shut them down.

“In Gauteng, we want to go to Level 3 and finally get to Level 1. It is not a function of the police and army to enforce regulations, it is up to people to obey the regulations,” Makhura said.

He added that the week-long grace period for interprovincial travel, to allow people to get home or to work, ended on Thursday night and said no one was allowed to enter or leave Gauteng without a permit.

“There was a window period where people moved to other provinces. In the past week, we had police managing roadblocks and there was lot of relaxation. From today onwards, no one will come to Gauteng without a permit.

“Police are going back to implement regulations. We are strengthening our watch in areas of great concerns, especially townships. Hotspots are changing, they are moving to the south and northern parts of Johannesburg and in Tshwane too. Hotspots are moving to townships.

“The curve has been flattening. Level 4 is a real test. Level 5 is basically difficult to people who need to earn a living and we will be forced to feed too many people,” Makhura said.

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