Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal government kept true to its word to intensify the coronavirus lockdown in the province on Monday after authorities set up more than 30 road blocks and arrested 114 people for breaking the lockdown regulations.
Some of the road blocks were manned by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala together with MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Bheki Ntuli, MEC for Education, Kwazi Mshengu and eThekwini Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda.
This after Zikalala announced an intensified lockdown for Durban after data from the Covid-19 pandemic showed that the eThekwini Metro was the epicentre for the province.
The roadblocks began at 4am on Monday and saw hundreds of cars pulled over.
"We expected that as the curve was flattening in other districts that the same would happen for eThekwini but it is not," Zikalala said at a roadblock on Monday.
An intensified lockdown took hold in Durban on Monday. Some of the road blocks were manned by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala together with MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Bheki Ntuli, MEC for Education, Kwazi Mshengu and eThekwini Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda. Picture: Supplied.
"There are districts we were analysing on Friday that over two weeks we've seen the number of new cases decreasing. So there we said here things are working and here in eThekwini we needed to escalate in our intervention to fight the spread of the virus," he said.
Zikalala also said that authorities didn't have enough capacity to ensure constant patrols in all areas in the metro.
KZN Police commissioner, Lieutenant General Khombisani Jula said an assessment of resources had been conducted and that additional officers from other areas will be allocated to the eThekwini Metro to assist with the intensified lockdown.
An intensified lockdown took hold in Durban on Monday. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala together with MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Bheki Ntuli, MEC for Education, Kwazi Mshengu, eThekwini Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda and KZN Police commissioner, Lieutenant General Khombisani Jula. Picture: Supplied.
"This is a case of prioritising. We've seen that eThekwini is a problem area so we are trying to make sure that the day-to-day policing in the area is uninterrupted so in other areas which are not as impacted we are downscaling on resources there and relocating them to where they are needed more in this region," he said.