In 2020, the world was confronted with a global pandemic. The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) originated in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019. On 5 March 2020, the first case of the virus was confirmed in South Africa (SA). In response, the President of SA announced a national lockdown, prompting efforts to track and monitor public compliance with the newly introduced regulations. This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 in SA, with a focus on the monitoring of non-compliance incidents through online platforms. Data was collected from social media sources and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to assess trends in regulatory adherence. Social media users actively participated in online surveillance activities to closely monitor non-adherence to the lockdown regulations and reporting violations of lockdown measures. The findings show that, initially, most of the people disregarded the regulations observed through numerous incidents of non-compliance reported, where the surveilled people were mostly moving around unauthorized and breaking the regulations related to social distancing. Looting and fraud became popular categories during the period of April and May; protests also emerged as many people, especially public healthcare workers, became frustrated over the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) provided for their safety while working. It was concluded that the government needed to do more to monitor and enforce regulations, as it was evident that there is a correlation between non-adherence to the regulations and the spread of COVID-19.