[imagesource: 123rf/niroworld]

Many of the rules put in place by the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) were necessary.

The stay at home orders in place during those first few weeks of hard lockdown allowed the country some time to get to grips with what was to come, while scientists and experts tried to learn more about COVID-19.

The mandatory wearing of masks, hygiene, and physical distancing protocols are also paramount to stopping the spread of the virus.

The way that these rules, and others, have been enforced or penalised, on the other hand, has varied from no action at all from law enforcement, to full-on arrests, to extreme police brutality. 

Police minister Bheki Cele recently announced the number of arrests for contravening the lockdown regulations over the past three months, reports TimesLIVE.

More than 270,000 people were arrested for contravening the lockdown regulations […] Cele revealed in parliament.

BusinessLIVE reported that of the 276,607 arrested since the declaration of the national state of disaster at the end of March until June 19, 22,815 have paid admission of guilt fines and 199,677 are scheduled to appear in court or pay an admission of guilt fine.

Concerns have been put forward regarding the number of people housed in South Africa’s already overcrowded jails, some of whom are there because they couldn’t afford bail or admission of guilt fines, even though the offences they allegedly committed were minor.

“At the onset of lockdown level 5, compliance levels improved. As the regulations were enforced, however, the contravention of regulations was still high,” said Cele.

“Increased law enforcement visibility and actions to assert the authority of the state resulted in an improvement in compliance, which was at a very high level at the end of level 5 and throughout level 4.

The intention, from what the president said in those early days, was to save lives, not “assert the authority of the state”.

Cele goes on to talk about how the curfew during alert level 4 had a positive effect on compliance with regulations, alongside the restriction of movement between districts. The ban on alcohol during alert levels 4 and 5 also had a positive effect and reduced rates of violent crime.

The sale of liquor, says Cele, contributed to a rise in non-compliance and violent crime.

The most common offences during lockdown included:

• failure of people to stay confined to their residence (under level 5);
• failure of non-exempted businesses and entities to cease operations (under levels 4 and 5);
• convening of gatherings (under level 4); and
• selling tobacco products other than for export (under level 3).

Notably, from March 27 to June 22, there have been 49 service complaints against members of South African law enforcement for the use of excessive force.

Of these, 36 have been finalised and 20 confirmed as valid – one of which resulted in disciplinary action.

No criminal charges have been initiated in any of the finalised cases.

A total of 16 complaints could not be substantiated based on the information provided by the complainant, while 13 complaints are still under investigation.

Admission of guilt fines during the lockdown is also a controversial topic. According to South African law, an admission of guilt fine applies where the penalty for an offence is a fine. If you pay that fine, however, you have admitted guilt and will be issued with a criminal record. 

According to BusinessTech, in May, the Department of Justice and Correctional Services said that it was working on new legislation that would remove the ‘criminal record’ element from paying an admission of guilt fine.

Deputy minister John Jefferies said: “This is something we have been wanting to address and it is something that will be (included) in an upcoming Judicial Matters Bill,” he said.

“The idea will be that most admission of guilt fines will not attract a criminal record.

“Sometimes the due process is not properly followed and sometimes people pay pressures to pay the fine and don’t realise they are going to get a record and will affect their rights.

Note that they are “wanting to address” this issue, and have thus not addressed it yet, which means that paying an admission of guilt fine could still land you with a criminal record until such time as that legislation has been gazetted.

Stay safe out there, and comply with regulations as far as possible.

If you are arrested, don’t pay that fine.

[sources:timeslive&businesstech]