Durban - PEOPLE in some areas were “having a nice holiday” and ignoring the rules to stay at home during the Covid-19 lockdown.
This was according to Newlands ward councillor Bobby Maharajh, who warned this would lead to more infections unless people changed their behaviour.
“I don’t know if this is because of sheer ignorance or lack of understanding of what is happening.”
He said he and other community leaders had educated people about the lockdown but this had not yielded good results.
Maharajh said the situation at informal settlements was “shocking”.
“People are walking the streets, shopping and drinking alcohol. Some were playing soccer and buying groceries, but not observing social distancing. The attitude towards the pandemic is absolutely shocking,” Maharajh said.
He said it appeared that people were only concerned about food supplies and not about their health.
“The truth is that you can have all the food you want in the house, but if people are still ignorant about what they need to do in order to prevent the virus from spreading, then everyone else in the fight against the coronavirus will fight a losing battle,” he said.
Maharajh said his main concern was that shacks were built close to each other, making it easy for the virus to spread in informal settlements.
“If one person gets infected, we would be in danger of the whole settlement being infected. People need to remain at home and practise the highest level of hygiene,” he said.
Newlands PR councillor Shontel de Boer said life continued as normal in her ward, with few people observing the shutdown rules.
Drug dealers were at work, and people were drinking alcohol.
“The few observing the lockdown rules are looking for every excuse to get out of the house,” she said.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said they were arresting and fining people breaking the rules. He said these were "isolated incidents" (of non-compliance) and it was generally quiet in the suburbs.