Photo Credit:GCIS.
Police Minister Bheki Cele has revealed that there is a correlation between the high number of arrests and the provinces with the highest infection rates.
During a press briefing of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster on lockdown level 3 regulations on Thursday, the Minister revealed that 243 146 people had been arrested for regulation violations since 27 March.
Of these, 241 had been fined while others had been granted bail. While 41 491 cases have been finalised, over 20 000 cases are still under investigation.
“There is a relationship that is not very good here, most of the people that have been arrested come from the hotspot areas,” he said.
The Western Cape, which accounts for more than 60% of the country’s COVID-19 infections, has the highest number of infections. The province is followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Over 57 000 arrests have been made in the Western Cape. Over 40 000 and 37 000 transgressors have been arrested in Gauteng and in the Free State, respectively. This is followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 27 000 arrests. The Northern Cape and Mpumalanga, with 8000 and 10 000 arrests, were the best behaved provinces.
“There is a correlation between the people that don’t listen and the spread of the virus when you look at the figures,” he said.
The Minister said the South African Police Services was in discussion with the Justice Department of how to proceed with the cases.
“[This is] to see how people with petty crime cases don’t end up with criminal records. We don’t want to produce [a country of] criminals. It’s one [of the things] the Justice Minister is dealing with, [with] the police and the courts,” said Cele.
However, the Minister said law enforcement would not relent on operations aimed at curbing infringement. Operations, though, will now focus on the six metros and four districts identified as hotspots.