Gauteng scholar transport saferty

Gauteng Department of Roads and Safety will check on scholar transport safety. Image: Supplied

Lockdown level 4 latest: KZN government visits Umhlanga businesses

Government officials and police visited restaurants and a hotel to check for lockdown compliance and to assess the damage the rules have done.

Gauteng scholar transport saferty

Gauteng Department of Roads and Safety will check on scholar transport safety. Image: Supplied

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government has intensified the monitoring of compliance with Covid-19 Lockdown Level 4 regulations as infections continue to rise.

MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), Mr Ravi Pillay, together with MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Peggy Nkonyeni, embarked on unannounced compliance inspections at several restaurants and businesses in Umhlanga. Sites visited included restaurants, a retail supermarket and a hotel along the usually bustling Chartwell Drive.  They also attended a roadblock on the busy M4 highway.

The inspections were part of the province’s new lockdown battle plan to counter rising Covid-19 infections as announced by Premier Sihle Zikalala earlier this week.

Zikalala had warned that the plan would focus on monitoring hotspots and strengthening of law enforcement teams and operations throughout the province.

Members of the SAPS, eThekwini Metro Police and officials from EDTEA, Durban Tourism, the Liquor Authority, Home Affairs and Labour department joined Pillay and Nkonyeni on the inspection visits. The MECs also used the visits as an opportunity to asses the impact of Covid-19 on businesses and tourism establishments.

Both MECs expressed general satisfaction with the level of lockdown compliance by the businesses that were visited.

“We have a combination of enforcement and compliance and being educative and supportive at the same time. On the side of compliance generally here in this area, it has been reasonably good,” Pillay said. 

“There is a business in this vicinity that was closed down months ago for non-compliance with licensing requirements and illegal sale of alcohol. That is just an example that there is no area that is exempt from compliance. Umhlanga is a flagship tourist area and if there is non-compliance we have to enforce. But at the same time we have to educative and we are quite pleased with the reaction of managers,” Pillay said.

Nkonyeni said the multi-disciplinary operation would become a regular feature in the province in the coming days and will be intensified to ensure compliance.      “We will be going everywhere. We will be checking bus ranks and taxi ranks to ensure that people are really compliant with Covid-19 Alert Level 4 regulations,” Nkonyeni said.

The MECs later joined law enforcement officers in a roadblock on the busy M4 highway.

During the roadblock 180 vehicles were stopped in less than two hours resulting in 27 prosecutions for different traffic offences. These ranged from drivers caught driving unlicensed vehicles, driving without driving licences and driving unroadworthy vehicles. The roadblock also focused on ensuring that public transport operators and commuters complied with Covid-19 regulations, including the wearing of masks.