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Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Police and Traffic Police arrested a total of 53 people since Thursday for breaching lockdown regulations and drinking in public open spaces.
Mayoral Committee Member, John Best, said 26 roadblocks were held throughout the Metro between Thursday and Saturday.
“A total of 2450 vehicles were stopped, of which 45 were taxis. We issued 693 fines for various offences such as overloading, unroadworthy vehicles, unlicensed drivers, etc,” he said.
Best said of the 53 arrests made, 30 were for breaching lockdown regulations by being outside their residences after the 9 pm curfew while the others were arrested for consuming alcohol in public spaces.
“We were especially heartened that residents complied with the closure of beaches and as a result, no arrests took place regarding this regulation. We are happy to report that the recent stricter lockdown, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, had the desired effect as we noticed a remarkable decline in activity this year.”
Best said while the rest of the country is showing alarming levels of new coronavirus infections, we only had 73 new cases on Saturday, “in line with the consistent decline in new COVID-19 infections since mid-December in Colchester, Despatch, Port Elizabeth, and Uitenhage.”
He said Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality remains cautiously optimistic that this trend would continue and Best thanked the public for adhering to public health protocols such as physical distancing, the washing of hands and sanitising as well as the wearing of masks in all public spaces.
“We will continue enforcing the law in the interest of public safety and request residents to guard against coronavirus-fatigue as we are still firmly entrenched in the fight against the pandemic,” Best said.
