Six people were arrested for playing golf in Newcastle, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturday during the national lockdown.

Umesh Karsan, Ronnell Singh, Pradeep Singh, Vinod Karsan, Sanjay Singh and Shaun Pillay appeared in the Newcastle magistrate's court on Tuesday.

National police spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo said they were charged under the Disaster Management Act.

“The Amajuba cluster task team was performing Covid-19 lockdown duties on April 25 from 06:00 to 18:00. The members was patrolling Barry Hertzog Park, Newcastle, when they noticed a group of people playing golf at the course.

“Six suspects were arrested and charged for failure by a person to be confined to a residence. The suspects appeared at the Newcastle magistrate's court on April 28 [Tuesday] and were given bail,” he said.

The six were granted bail of R1,500 each and will appear again in court again on July 27.