Cape Town - Nearly three years after he was caught walking in the road without a Covid-19 mask, a 38-year-old man has been arrested for breaking the City by-law.
His mother said she was shocked when Law Enforcement officers arrested her son for not wearing the Covid-19 mask in 2022.
The 38-year-old Mitchells Plain man was at home last Tuesday when he was served with a warrant of arrest.
He had been caught on May 20, 2022, walking in the road without a mask. According to the document presented to him, the description of the offence reads: “Failed to wear a face mask in public place.”
He was fined R1000 and an additional R650 as an admission of guilt.
The arrest has left the man’s family traumatised and confused.
His devastated mother said: “I was at work down the road when I heard that my son was being arrested. I was shocked because my son had never been in trouble with the law before. When they picked him up my nerves shot up and I became emotional. I asked myself how they could do that to my son. We no longer have Covid-19 and why would they come now.”
The woman explained that her son was only gone for a few hours.
“They took him to the municipal court in Goodwood and then he came back hours later. He told us that he had to pay some money. I don’t even know where to go with this, and we don’t even have the money to pay.
“This is a time of year when everyone is financially strained. He was shaken at the time, but he is much better. It’s so embarrassing to have experienced such a thing. He has never run into trouble with the law.
“It doesn’t make sense at all. This means that for all of those people who didn’t pay fines for Covid masks, the Law Enforcement will catch up with them too.”
The Westridge woman said they need assistance in understanding what exactly they need to do to get out of the situation.
“What must we do now because we don’t want him to be arrested again?
“This is not a crime-related offence – it was for not wearing a mask in Covid. How can the City justify that ... after (two) years and some change?
“I'm sure my son had forgotten all about it as so many things have happened already in the last four years.”
Law Enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason said the City’s Law Enforcement Department executes warrants on an ongoing basis, for transgressions in respect of by-laws and other relevant legislation.
These warrants are issued by the courts, he said.
“In terms of a person’s ability to pay a fine or not, this is determined by the magistrate, on presentation of evidence of the accused’s personal circumstances.”
Wearing masks in public places and transport became mandatory in 2020.
If a person didn’t wear it they would not have been allowed to use, operate, perform any service on any form of public transport; to enter or be in a building, place or premises, including government buildings, places or premises, used by the public to obtain goods or services; or public transport drivers, managers, owners of buildings, and employers who did not enforce the regulations were to receive either a fine or six months imprisonment or both.
Former police Minister Bheki Cele said 22 815 people paid admission of guilt fines after the National State of Disaster was declared.
In terms of the act, South Africans faced fines varying between R1 000 and R5 000. The fines varied from province to province. Police had been mandated to hand out fines to taxi owners or operators, managers or owners of a building and employers. In the Western Cape, an admission of guilt fine of R500 was issued if people were not home by the 10pm curfew.
Exercising before 4am resulted in a R500 fine. If you were caught at a gathering after the 10pm curfew, you would have had to pay up R2000.