South Africa’s lockdown has come with many necessary rules and regulations to ensure the spread of COVID-19 is curbed. As a result, Chief Magistrates across the country have now begun publishing their updated admission of guilt penalties for minor breaking of lockdown rules.
The schedules are based on provincial and magistrate districts, and are in line with the new Level 3 lockdown regulations which were introduced in June and July.
South African Police Service (SAPS) officers are allowed to give someone who has been arrested on suspicion of a less serious crime the option of paying a guilt of admission fine. While this does still go on the arrested individual’s criminal record, the perpetrator does not have to appear in court. This, in turn, alleviates strain on the already overloaded court system.
As reported by BusinessTech, thousands have already paid a guilt of admission fine since lockdown was first instated on March 26.
The fines will differ per region, but this table will provide a basis for what you can expect to pay for breaking different lockdown rules: This is based off the directive for KwaZulu-Natal:
| Charge or Crime | Fine |
|---|---|
| Intentionally making a misrepresentation that any person is infected with COVID-19. | R3 000 |
| Failure by a driver or operator of any form of public transport to take reasonable steps to ensure a passenger wears a mask. | R1 000 |
| Failure by a manager or owner of a building, place or premises, used by the public to obtain goods or services, to ensure that members of the public wear a mask. | R1 000 |
| Failure by an employer to provide every employee with a cloth face mask or allows an employee to perform any duties or enter the premises without a mask. | R1 000 |
| Failure by a principal of a school to ensure the relevant authority supplies it with sufficient masks. | R500 |
| Convening of an illegal gathering during the national state of disaster. | R1 000 |
| Failure to be confined to his or her place of residence from 21pm – 4am daily (it should be noted that the curfew now starts at 10pm). | R1 000 |
| Attends or hosts a night vigil. | R500 |
| Evicting or causing a person to be evicted from their home under alert Level 3 without court authorisation. | R3 000 |
| Holding or arranging an initiation school. | R2 000 |
| Failure to keep a place or premises open, normally open to the public, where sporting, cultural, entertainment, leisure, exhibitional, organisational or similar activities should be closed for the duration of the national state of disaster. | R3 000 |
| Failure by a bus or taxi service to carry 70% or less of the licensed capacity for provincial travel. | R1 000 |
There are some offenses that do not have the option of a guilt of admission fine, and these include:
– The sale of tobacco products
– The sale and dispensing of liquor
– The prohibited transport of liquor
– Obstructing, hindering or interfering with law enforcement as they carry out their duties.
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