Nearly 300,000 arrested in South Africa for violating lockdown in Covid era

Nearly 300,000 people have been arrested in South Africa for violating the lockdown laws that were introduced at the end of March to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, according to the figures released here.

Minister of Police Bheki Cele announced the quarterly crime statistics on Friday.

At the start of the lockdown, Cele had warned that people contravening the regulations would end up with a criminal record which would impact on issues such as their future job prospects.

But at the statistics announcement, he said his colleague in the Ministry of Justice was looking at ways to avoid