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A large police contingent was called in on Friday to sweep the Makhado Municipal building in Louis Trichardt, following an apparent bomb scare.
“Bomb scare” at municipality causes panic
News Date: 05 September 2008
The Makhado Municipal offices had to be evacuated over lunch time on Friday afternoon (August 29), following an apparent bomb scare.
The building was evacuated after an internal alarm was triggered. The alarm is not accessible to the public. Many irate customers who had queued at the payment office since that morning left when informed of the situation. Others patiently waited for over three hours to claim their receipt of payment when the “all clear” was eventually given.
Asked what made municipal officials believe that there was a possible bomb in the building, municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi said on Monday that they had to make sure. That is why they summoned the police to sweep the building. He said that, at this stage, they do not know whether the alarm was triggered by a person or whether or not the alarm malfunctioned.
“We now have to double check the status of the alarm to see whether or not it is still up to scratch,” Bobodi said. On a more sarcastic note, some irate customers remarked on Friday that it is no wonder that the municipality is receiving bomb threats if one looks at the chaos with regard to municipal accounts.Written by
Andries van Zyl
Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.
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