Ballito’s CBD is pumping with shoppers taking advantage of the Black Friday specials.

Simbithi Drive is moving at a snail’s pace with people streaming into Checkers at the Ballito Bay Mall.

The queues are apparently extending right down the aisles.

Checkers was the first food retailer to bring Black Friday to South Africa in 2014, and this year it is again discounting prices by up to 50% on everyday products.

In 2015, Checkers served more than a million customers on the day and sold enough Coke to fill more than three Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Further south the true crowds have gathered at Gateway Theatre of Shopping and Pavillion, where one woman was reportedly injured in a stampeed.

#BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/EV7XoJdslC

— taytay🇿🇦 (@taythenomad) November 25, 2016

#BlackFriday The scene at Checkers Hyper in Roodepoort . CE pic.twitter.com/k85wz2Dna4

— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) November 25, 2016

This #BlackFriday is a conspiracy against the poor! Stay at home!! Stay defiant… pic.twitter.com/jpKgSFFBdO

— Makhudu Sefara (@Sefara_Mak) November 25, 2016

Despite numerous claims on social media the term “Black Friday” did not originate with the selling of slaves on the day after Thanksgiving.

According to snopes.com the term originated in the US with the phenomenon that takes place on the day after Thanksgiving Thursday, when millions of people who get the day off from work or school crowd into stores for what is traditionally considered the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

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