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A Pretoria man has been arrested after a video went viral in which he is seen “swearing, mocking efforts to curb the Covid-19 coronavirus and bragging they do not comply with laws put in place to contain the virus”.
SA Police Service spokesperson, Vishnu Naidoo, said the 23-year-old man – who cannot be named as he has yet to appear in court – was arrested on Saturday after “this matter was investigated and the suspect was traced and found inside a residential complex in the Lyttelton policing area”.
“A 23-year old man was arrested for allegedly contravening the Regulations of the Disaster Management Act 2002,” Naidoo said in statement on Sunday morning.
Naidoo said, in one of the snippets in which two men were seen to be travelling around Pretoria, “one man appears to be standing in front of a police station and continued swearing about the virus”.
“The suspect is likely to face charges of at least contravening Regulation 11B of the Disaster Management Act 2002,” Naidoo said.
“He is currently in police custody and he is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrates Court tomorrow [Monday].”
In the video, the man says in Afrikaans: “We scheme f**k Covid-19, f**k corona, ma se p**s, we aren't worried.”
“This is my brother... jissis, we are driving around the streets, looking to score now!” he says as he shows his middle finger to the camera.
"God, I'm going to zoom in, there's a p--s police van in front of us. Ma se p**s, coronavirus, ma se p**s,” he then says.
In the next shot, the man brags about taking drugs in front of the police station.
“I feel a p**s about corona, I'm taking tik in front of Lyttelton police station,” he says.
Following the announcement of the 21-day lockdown by President Cyril Ramaphosa almost two weeks ago, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma signed off key amendments to the Disaster Management Act in response to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amendments to Regulation B, for the period of the lockdown, include restriction on the movement of persons and goods where every person is confined to his or her place of residence, unless strictly for the purpose of performing an essential service, obtaining an essential good or service, collecting a social grant, or seeking emergency, life-saving, or chronic medical attention.
“The arrest of this suspect, as well as at least six other suspects that have been arrested for creating such videos and posting fake news, should be a reminder that the security forces enforcing the regulations to contain the Covid-19 virus have the capacity and capability to identify those responsible for such transgressions, however long it may take,” Naidoo said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department arrested more than 20 people for contravening the Covid-19 regulations.
This after roadblocks were conducted on the Soweto freeway and in the Sandton area, which Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo said were necessary because “there have been people who have not been heeding the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa, for people to stay home and only to get on the road when necessary”.
“We are sending a message that we are not playing because Covid-19 is serious. It is here and when we say lockdown we mean it,” Makhubo said at the time.
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