06 May 2020

Maun police have intensified patrols following an increase of people's movement especially in shopping malls.

Officer commanding District No 5, Senior Superintendent Peter Gochela, said in an interview that they experienced an influx of residents over the weekend around shopping malls and had to intensify their operations to arrest the situation.

He associated the increase of movement possibly due to the fact that it was month end and people had to buy groceries. 

Out of the 1 542 people stopped, he said 1 396 were found to have permits, 10 were warned because they advanced valid reasons while 136 were charged for non-compliance.

Snr Supt Gochela said staying at home remained a challenge since many people were seen moving around for no reason and thus posing a risk of spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

He appealed to the Ngamiland community to take responsibility for their lives and protect their families by staying at home until extreme social distancing has been lifted.

Furthermore, he said it was worrisome since people were putting their children at risk of contracting the virus despite their efforts to stay at home.

“People should understand that we are still in extreme social distancing period and we cannot condone such conducts where they contravene the law without convincing reasons,” he stressed.

The police chief also warned residents to stop visiting water sources to welcome annual floods saying the water would find them in their areas. Ends