Confused shoppers made their way to various exits, some carrying with them plates of food they ordered from restaurants. Despite the deafening alarm and warning announcement, a number of shoppers opted to continue with their shopping.<\/p>\n
Minutes later, everything returned to normal and it was business as usual. Only one shop remained closed.<\/p>\n
Chicken Licken staff and patrons waited outside the closed doors of a dark restaurant. A journalist who was at the mall by chance asked the staff members why the restaurant was still closed and without electricity.<\/p>\n
An unknown staff member said that they ‘nearly had big trouble’ and mentioned a fire in the kitchen area.<\/p>\n
Janet Nel, a client who was in Chicken Licken at the time of the incident, said that there was a power cut moments before the security alarm went off. According to her she could see that something was wrong in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
The owner of Chicken Licken, Farouk Ghani, said that there was no fire.<\/p>\n
“It was a power cut in the mall’s main board. We requested management to come out and the problem was fixed.”<\/p>\n
The whole incident lasted around 30 minutes Mr Ghani said.<\/p>\n
Jannie Prinsloo, Middelburg Mall Operational Manager, said that it was pure coincidence that the security alarm went off at the same time that Chicken Licken’s power tripped.<\/p>\n
Mr Prinsloo said that the alarm went off when someone tampered with one of the “break-glass systems” designed for emergencies.<\/p>\n
The security system in the new phase was programmed wrong, causing the alarm to sound immediately after an emergency glass is broken or tampered with.<\/p>\n