According to a report by EWN, a Durban-based law firm has advised people living in sectional title complexes to ignore police instructions not to walk or jog within their complexes.
The SAPS has warned citizens who live in complexes and estates that they will be arrested if they do not adhere to the lockdown regulations.
There has been much confusion pertaining to the rules, previously residents in complexes and estates were told that they were allowed to walk their dogs, jog, or exercise in their common property. However, police later clarified that this was not the case.
“Attorney Dave Mc Naught, from Mc Naught and Company Attorneys, said these directives were unlawful and anyone arrested for using the common property in their complexes could claim for damages,” reported EWN.
According to EWN, McNaught says, “In terms of regulation 11B1A1, every person is confined to his or her place of residence. For a free-standing property, this means the owner can go into his or her garden and play with the kids, let the dogs ran out outside, maintain and clean the pool and more. There should be no difference in a sectional title complex and nowhere in the regulations is a sectional title complex differentiated from a residence,”.
Police had called on security companies and body corporates to enforce the strict regulations of the national lockdown, saying it was a measure that was put in place to protect citizens.
The most important take away would be that those who live in complexes or estates, practice social distancing and that they remain within the regulations of the current law. These are confusing times and all citizens are urged to remain calm and adhere to the laws that have been put in place.