Rural communities must wise up to lockdown says OR Tambo mayor

OR Tambo district mayor Thokozile Sokanyile is concerned about people living in rural areas amid the deepening  coronavirus crisis and has instructed the mayors of its five local municipalities  to educate their communities about the  nationwide lockdown.

Sokanyile was present at a roadblock on the N2 between Mthatha and Tsolo on Tuesday.

Hundreds of cars were stopped and their occupants sprayed and screened for virus symptoms.

She said people in the rural areas did not watch the news on television.

“Our people don't watch TV. They watch Uzalo and Generations [two popular soap operas] and it ends there,” she said.

“I am really worried. We have to tell people in wards of this lockdown so that they know.”

She was joined by Mhlontlo mayor Nompumelelo Dywili along with police and health officials, and traffic personnel.

The mayors of the five local municipalities – KSD, Nyandeni, Ingquza Hill, Port St Johns and Mhlontlo – would engage ward councillors to meet ward committees on informing the public about the lockdown.

She said she had told the five mayors to submit a list of funerals in each ward and village so that the number of people attending these gatherings could be limited.

SAPS OR Tambo district commissioner major-general David Kanuka said residents should report taverns that did not adhere to government’s directives on closing times to the authorities.