President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the move from alert Level 1 to adjusted Level 3 on 28 December.
The president said the health system was taking a strain from trauma cases associated with the use of alcohol.
This is the third time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that the sale of alcohol has been banned.
Kinana said the arrests came during an intelligence-led campaign, which included detectives and visible policing.
“According to the information, Operation Tight Grip was conducted in response to several complaints and information received from the community about a local tavern, which disregarded the lockdown regulations against the selling of liquor.