Cele urges cops to arrest taxi drivers ferrying mask-less passengers

Police Minister Bheki Cele has urged police to arrest taxi drivers who are pulled over during festive season roadblocks, if it is found that a passenger in their vehicle was not wearing a mask.

On Thursday, during the #SaferFestiveSeason launch in the Western Cape, Cele said in the wake of the Covid-19 second wave announced by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday, it was important that communities continue to comply with preventative measures, which include wearing a mask.

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The minister said he would engage with the taxi industry to remind them that it remained their responsibility to ensure that passengers wore masks, and further urged the police to arrest taxi drivers transporting passengers who did not comply.

During the festive season, police would also focus on enforcing Covid-19 preventative measures, which include the wearing of masks, social distancing and sanitising, Cele said.

The minister added that in most cases people did not wear their masks but had them in their pockets.

Meanwhile, murder and gender-based violence remain “stubborn” crimes plaguing the Western Cape in areas such as Khayelitsha, Emfuleni, Nyanga and Delft, Cele said.

“Those places remain the places of murder, those places remain the places of rape and the abuse of women,” the minister added.

Cele said police visibility would be increased, especially in areas where young women walked in fear, saying that this would be changed and these areas would be made safer for them and children.

The minister said murder and the abuse of women, as well as house break-ins, were on the increase.

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