Pretoria - During apartheid being an informer was an act many paid the ultimate price for. But, since the dawn of the new dispensation, the government has encouraged members of the public to blow the whistle against crime and corruption as a means to support democracy and build a just society.

It is the same culture of blowing the whistle on those who violate the state of disaster regulations put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 that we need to revive.

The refusal by many, especially in urban townships to adhere to the lockdown poses a serious health threat to the whole of South Africa.

Gauteng has the highest number of cases, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and overcrowded urban areas in these provinces are where the biggest risk of internal transmission occurs.

Yet, in many townships and informal settlements, it is impossible to enforce personal distancing with streets full of people wandering around who scatter when they see law enforcers, only to regroup when they have passed by.