Eveline de Klerk
WALVIS BAY – Residents especially those in Kuisebmond and Mondesa are still giving the law enforcement agencies grey hair when it comes to adhering to the lockdown measures.
At least seven residents have been charged and fined for contravening the lockdown measures.
Speaking to New Era yesterday, Erongo police chief Andreas Nelumbu said people in Kuisebmond and Mondesa are under the impression that they are being punished if ordered to stay home by law enforcement agencies that have been deployed to patrol the streets.
“There is a lack of seriousness among our residents and we don’t think some grasp the importance of the lockdown. We are dealing with a serious disease and yet people fail to comply with the lockdown measures,” Nelumbu said yesterday.
He added that they over the weekend found a group of 15 people throwing a massive party in Mondesa, resulting in some being fined while others ran away.
According to Nelumbu, they also fined one person for fishing during the lockdown, as well as two others: one for operating an illegal shebeen while the other was fined for selling alcohol undercover.
He also indicated that they fined a person in Karibib, who wanted to enter the region without any authorisation at the roadblock .
He then appealed to residents to cooperate to avoid any confrontation with those patrolling the streets.
Meanwhile, a Swakopmund woman, Herlinde Tjiveza, also appealed to Namibians, especially young people to adhere to the lockdown measures to avoid unnecessary scufflings with law enforcement officers.
Tjiveza said she had to fork out N$2 000 to bail her daughter after she was arrested with several others for defying lockdown restrictions on alcohol use.
Her daughter was among a group that was arrested on Thursday evening around 23h00 in Mondesa with three crates of beer, despite the fact that the sale of alcohol is banned for the duration of the lockdown.
She says the boys that were among the group were beaten because they refused to show or reveal where they had bought the beer.
“I was so shocked to receive a call from the Mondesa police informing me that my daughter was arrested and that I had to come down to the station. Above all, I had to fork out money that we simply did not have to bail her out,” Tjiveza said on Friday.
– edeklerk@nepc.com.na