The provincial spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Joseph Makutle, confirms to OFM News that the department received a report on Monday morning of one official who tested positive for Covid-19. 

Makutle adds that all cases on the roll have accordingly been postponed to future dates. Amongst the court cases that were hampered by this Covid-19 report, is the case against the duo arrested for theft of diesel worth approximately R480 000 and their alleged tampering with essential infrastructure. 

Hawks provincial spokesperson, Tlangelani Rikhotso, also confirmed that the two failed to appear before the court following reports of Covid-19. Rikhotso further said that the accused, aged 27 and 34, have been remanded into custody with their case postponed to July 17 for the first appearance.

The Rustenburg Magistrate's Court is amongst government institutions in the province that continues to suffer ripple effects of the spread of Covid-19 during the surge of infections. 

OFM News in early June reported that the Klerksdorp Magistrate's Court was also shut down after a few officials tested positive for Covid-19. The institution was closed for 2 days with most of the criminal, civil and family law matters on the roll postponed until after the completion of the decontamination process. Rustenburg and Klerksdorp are the two cities in the province under Local Municipalities with a high rate of Covid infections. These are the Rustenburg and Matlosana local municipalities which share the bulk of the cases in the province following the break-out in the mines. These two have since been declared hotspot zones in the province by Health MEC Madoda Sambatha. This as the province continues to battle with the increasing infection rate in mining areas after miners from three hotspot provinces such as Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng earlier returned to work. Sambatha has once again reiterated that its Covid-19 positive cases are largely located within the mining communities with “Bojanala standing at over 4000, Dr Kenneth Kaunda over 1000, Ngaka Modiri Molema over 400 and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati at over 100. He said the mining sub-districts take the bulk of cases with Rustenburg with over 4100 and Matlosana with over 1250 Covid-19 cases.

 OFM News