Durban - A cash-in-transit heist at the KwaMashu Shopping Centre had early morning shoppers ducking for cover.
Robbers held up a G4S Security van and pistol-whipped a guard at a Chicken Licken outlet just after 9am on Thursday.
A witness, Sithembiso Mzimela, said he was shaken by what he had seen.
He said there were two groups of robbers.
“I saw one guy who was riding a bike, park outside and go into the shop to buy food. He bought something and went outside. He then made a call when the G4S vehicle arrived. The Tata van, which the one group of robbers were in, was nearby. The occupants of the van attacked the cash vehicle,” Mzimela said.
He said after the G4S van had parked, a guard from the security company went into the outlet carrying a cash box. A group of robbers were standing near a billboard with their rifles wrapped in paper.
“The second group of men went into the shop with the one man who had made the call. One group approached the G4S van and put a gun in the hole in the window and fired a shot. The security guard ran away and went to the other side of Chicken Licken.”
Mzimela said the other security guard, who had walked into the outlet before the robbers struck, was walking out when he was attacked.
“They then chased the other security guards working at the centre. One of them, who was running away, tripped and fell.
“The robbers escaped in a Tata van and another vehicle. The guy who was on the motorbike and made the call before the heist emerged out of the shop last,” he said.
“Seeing the whole thing unfold was like watching a movie,” Mzimela said.
A security guard who was working at a shop near the scene said: “I heard gunshots going off and saw people running and screaming. People ran into the shop I am working at and we closed the door as soon as it happened.”
The guard said the robbery had left him traumatised: “I am still shocked even now. Guns are serious business.”
Kevin Govender, G4S national operations director, confirmed that one of their employees was pistol-whipped. “The man was treated in hospital and discharged the same day,” Govender said.
The centre’s management declined to comment, saying they would wait for the police to complete their investigation.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane confirmed an undisclosed amount of cash was taken in the robbery.
Daily News