Probe launched after Midrand mall bomb scare

The mall’s security manager, Songezo Sithole, said the secretary received the call at about 12.30pm, and someone with a male voice said that there was a bomb inside the mall and it would go off in an hour, Midrand Reporter reported.

“It is now 13.35pm. The bomb should have gone off by now,” said Sithole, who was still inside the mall, escorting the police’s bomb disposal unit. “We are still looking through the mall. We haven’t found anything yet.”
Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said police responded to the scene, but nothing was found.

“Police were called to the scene and, on arrival, did not find anything. However, investigations are ongoing,” he added.

“This is not the first time that the mall has been evacuated due to a bomb scare. In 2011, a man called the mall and said there was a bomb. Same as today, he just dropped the phone without leaving any details about the whereabouts of the bomb and his details,” said Sithole.

Parking manager at the mall, Nokwazi Zwane: “We received a call that there was a bomb in the building and that we had to leave. After an hour, all shops were closed, and all civilians had been successfully evacuated.”

On Monday, a police bomb squad was sweeping through the evacuated building of the Gauteng department of human settlements following a bomb scare.

”Following a tip-off received by the police that there is bomb in the Johannesburg regional office of the department of human settlements, an evacuation and sweeping of the building by the bomb squad is currently under way,” said the department’s spokesperson Motsamai Motlhaolwa.

The building is situated on the corner of Harrison and Pritchard streets in the Johannesburg CBD. Motlhaolwa said the police bomb squad arrived in the morning and evacuated everyone after receiving a tip-off about a bomb in the building.

MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the police were handling the matter and called on employees to remain calm.

– Caxton News Service