New fines for breaking South Africa’s lockdown laws – what you will pay
The South African Judiciary has published a series of directives which outline how much citizens will have to pay in ‘admission of guilt’ fines if they are found to breach the country’s lockdown rules.
The South African Police Service may give a person, who has been arrested on suspicion of a less serious crime, an option to pay an admission of guilt fine.
Such a fine allows a person to admit guilt for a less serious offence without having to appear in court. This prevents an unnecessary overload of the court system.
It is meant to resolve less serious matters quickly where an accused person accepts responsibility for having committed a minor offence.
The directives are based on provincial and magistrate districts, and are in line with the new level 4 lockdown regulations which were introduced from 1 May.
The directives also provide on how the court plans to deal with these cases, with KZN indicating that it will reserve judgement for breaches it deems trivial.
While the fines differ between regions, the below table provides an idea of what you can expect to pay based on the directive for Tshwane.
Not all regions have published directives, but details are available for these areas:
| Charge | Fine |
|---|---|
| Making a misrepresentation that any person is infected with Covid-19 | R3 000 |
| Publishing any statement to deceive any other person about Covid-19 | R2 000 |
| Publishing any statement to deceive any other person about the infection status of any person | R3 000 |
| Intentionally exposing another person to Covid-19 | R5 000 |
| Disclosing any information in the Covid-19 database | R1 000 |
| Convening a gathering | R3 000 |
| Failure to confine oneself to one’s place of residence | R500 |
| Going to work without a permit | R500 |
| Buy goods that are not permitted | R500 |
| Illegally move children | R1 000 |
| Illegally walk, run, or cycle | R500 |
| Illegally leaving residence during curfew (20h00 – 05h00) | R500 |
| Illegally moving between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts | R1 000 |
| Illegal eviction of a person | R5 000 |
| Visit places and premises closed to the public | R1 000 |
| Sell, dispense or distribute liquor | R2 000 |
| Sell tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and related products | R1 000 |
| Retail stores selling illegal goods | R1 000 |
Tshwane Fines 7 May 2020 by BusinessTech on Scribd
Read: South Africa needs to end its lockdown in weeks, not months: business group
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