The president, health minister and other cabinet members have on various occasions scolded South Africans for not adhering to myriad regulations the government has announced to curb the spread of the coronavirus. And they would seem to have good reasons for doing so given that SA not only has the most Covid-19 infections in Africa but the fifth highest number in the world.
In the modern world a case can be made for breaking the law on moral grounds in circumstances where specific laws are generally regarded as unfair or unethical. This is in fact what Nelson Mandela did under the apartheid legal dispensation. Civil disobedience is a recognised form of moral protest, but it is a form that should be used only as a last resort, after all other legal remedies have failed. And it should be used only in cases where fundamental human rights are at stake.
Some people simply make exceptions of themselves when it comes to abiding by the law. Though they might agree that laws are required in any orderly society, they do not believe this applies to them. By making exceptions of themselves, such people start normalising the breaking of the law.
Though theft is generally regarded as morally unacceptable, we tend to judge people differently if they steal food just to stay alive. What applies to ethics also applies to the law. People who are unable to feed their families due to the lockdown are likely to resort to all possible means to stay alive, including illegal means.