The government of Zimbabwe has enacted Statutory Instrument (SI) 77 of 2020 which provides that individuals who violate a raft of measures put in place to combat the novel coronavirus.
The SI states that individuals face up to 12-months imprisonment for violating the ban on social gatherings which prohibits more than 50 people to gather. Reads the SI:
Any person partaking at a gathering or convener thereof — (a) partakes in or convenes a gathering knowing that such gathering is prohibited in terms of subsection (1); or (b) refuses to disperse from a gathering after being ordered to disperse in terms of subsection (2)(a); shall be guilty of an offence and liable to fine not exceeding level 12 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both such fine and such imprisonment.
The SI is promulgated when Zimbabwe on Monday recorded its first coronavirus death. Previously, Zimbabwe had banned gatherings of people exceeding 99.
Meanwhile, South Africa on Monday announced a 21-day lockdown which will start on March 26 and end on April 16.
More: The Chronicle