Most people have the wrong perception that contravening  a lockdown regulation will simply result in a fine and the matter shall be put to bed in that manner...no consequences whatsoever.  

The above mentioned is totally wrong and actually the opposite applies.

During March 2020, a level-5 lockdown period was announced in South Africa as a result of the pandemic the world is currently facing. With this announcement came certain regulations which people had to abide by, including the staying at home and only travel for the sole purposes of buying food, if you are an essential worker, for instance health workers and police officials, etc. During this time, if law enforcement officers found you anywhere in the public eye without one of the reasons mentioned above, you were deemed to have committed a crime. One would be charged with being “contravention of the lockdown regulation”. Fines would be given to the perpetrators, the most common amount was
R3 000.00 (Three Thousand Rand). A lot of people were under the impression that one just pays the fine in order to avoid going to court and that would be the end of the matter. However, the actual position in this regards is that a fine is an admission of guilt.

Paying an admission of guilt fine in any matter results in one having a criminal record. This would then mean that once a person goes for police clearance for employment purposes, the same record shall reflect on the clearance certificate. 

Furthermore, going to court on the given date as a matter of appearing before a presiding officer on a charge you know you are indeed guilty of would just be unnecessarily financially draining.

Therefore, it is best advisable to stay at home if one has to and abide by the lockdown regulations by any means necessary.