Eerily quiet public holiday weekend in SA

The usual public holiday in South Africa would involve celebratory braais and gatherings over cold beverages. But the streets were eerily quiet on Human Rights Day as popular drinking spots had all shut their doors.

Picture: Nigel Sibanda

Sunday church services had now moved to online live streaming as places of worship had also shut their doors. South Africans had evidently adhered to calls by government to avoid social contact amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Aside from a few transgressors such as a funeral service in Soshanguve where more than 100 people seemed to have gathered on Saturday, and a tavern in Johannesburg that was raided by police for remaining open on Friday night, those that had gathered at parks and malls tried to remain in small groups. Police Minister Bheki Cele had stuck to his vow of ensuring strict…

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Sunday church services had now moved to online live streaming as places of worship had also shut their doors.

South Africans had evidently adhered to calls by government to avoid social contact amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Aside from a few transgressors such as a funeral service in Soshanguve where more than 100 people seemed to have gathered on Saturday, and a tavern in Johannesburg that was raided by police for remaining open on Friday night, those that had gathered at parks and malls tried to remain in small groups.

Police Minister Bheki Cele had stuck to his vow of ensuring strict policing on all liquor selling outlets that did not adhere to the new trading times.

Due to the outbreak, which now stands at 240 confirmed cases in South Africa, strict regulations were put in place to try and control social gatherings in an attempt to avoid the spreading of the virus.

According to the regulations, which were gazetted last week, liquor selling outlets should close their doors at 6PM on weekdays and 1PM on weekends and public holidays. Only 50 people were allowed to be served at a time. No more than 100 people were allowed to gather at a time.

Cele appreciated the “overwhelming” positive response from the public and businesses have so far been compliant, his spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said.

“With this being the first weekend since the regulations were gazetted, what is equally pleasing has been the number of tip-offs police received on establishments that are/were contravening the regulations, resulting in the swift deployment of police to enforce the law,” she said.

In Salvokop in Pretoria, residents had instead decided to gather outside the closed taverns, with scores opting to drink in the streets.

But where regulations on social distancing are contravened, the police are ordered to immediately disperse the gathering and take action on the owner, organiser or manager.

“Given the recency of the gazetting of the regulations, we will not be providing blow-by-blow accounts. At this stage, that is expected of every person in South African to comply with the regulations for the greater good of the country against the Coronavirus. We will do a consolidated report for the whole country as soon as possible.”

rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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