Public not confined indoors

JUSTICE minister Yvonne Dausab yesterday said Namibians are allowed to roam their yards, and people are not expected to be confined inside their homes.

Earlier this week while patrolling the streets of Walvis Bay, members of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) allegedly ordered residents in their yards to return indoors.

“The confinement to residence carries its ordinary meaning, but we can guard and say that residence means the passage or panhandle in front of your house, garden, yard, outhouse in that yard, and people should be allowed to stay within the confines of those spaces,” the minister said.

Dausab also clarified that the limit of 10 people at public gatherings refers to funerals, churches, and people queueing at ATMs.

“It may not be something you have planned to do, but when you get to an ATM for example, it is expected that the measures of social distancing of one metre, not talking too close to another person, or wearing a mask in the event you are not feeling well are followed. There is the expectation that the regulations we set for public gatherings would be complied to by all Namibians in this country,” she said.

The minister said although the lockdown is only restricted to the Khomas and Erongo regions, the state of emergency regulations published in the Government Gazette last Saturday apply countrywide.

She said all aspects pertaining to movement in residential areas, essential services and working from home apply countrywide.

“Lockdown provisions are one of the measures facilitating the state of emergency,” she said.

According to the Government Gazette, for the duration of lockdown, Namibians must be confined to their places of residence unless they provide essential services (this includes health, electrical, security, sewerage, agricultural and goods transport services), need to buy food, seek medical attention or are exercising in a group of not more than three people.

Non-essential service workers will be required to stay home during the lockdown period until the end of 17 April.

The regulations also forbid the sale of alcohol during lockdown, and order the closure of bars, shebeens, nightclubs, open markets and informal trading.

“If we locked down the entire country, we wouldn’t have had the discussion about Erongo and Khomas in relation to the rest of the country. The intention is at some future date not long from now, the prime minister will make the announcement through the authority of His Excellency,” Dausab said.