The actress, who resides in Johannesburg’s upmarket suburb of Sandton, says she visited the mall this morning at the Debonairs side of the mall.

She was confronted by a man at the gate who refused her entry and told her to proceed to the main entrance at McDonald’s.

During a conversation with the man, the woman says she felt “uneasy” and told him she was armed and “not taking k** from anyone”.

A police vehicle then stopped right next to her but her attempts to draw the officer’s attention drew no response. She exited her vehicle and went to the policeman inside his marked vehicle, then two more police vehicles showed up and escorted the woman into the mall.

She waited to report “the suspicious activity” to mall management, warning them of “people who are not there to shop but to accost and probably rob shoppers”.

The woman says her anxiety after the confrontation with the man at the gate only eased when the manager of Cappuccinos, Michael van Aswegen, offered her a free cranberry smoothie and sat down for a chat with her, after realising she was terribly upset.

“I live in Johannesburg and can only say that I’ve never felt so unsafe and unprotected at any mall like this morning in Middelburg.”

The woman wants to warn residents to be vigilant at the mall “because there are certainly criminal elements lurking around”.

Mall Manager Mr Mike Tammadge says a number of unemployment structures organised this morning’s protest to demand jobs and job creation projects, “We are looking at their proposals,” Mr Tammadge told www.mobserver.co.za.

He says that the police dispersed the crowd after a memorandum was handed to mall management.

Mr Tammadge thanked the SAPS for their swift reaction.

• The incident was not taxi-related.

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