A brown suitcase left outside of Stellenbosch’s Town Hall was the cause of the bomb scare on Tuesday afternoon.
Stellenbosch police spokesperson, Captain Natalie Martin, confirmed that a call had been placed at 13:00 concerning a suspicious package near the parking area of the Town Hall. She also confirmed that the suitcase had been inspected by the bomb squad and was identified as negative.
After receiving the call, the Stellenbosch police, Cape Town Dog Unit and the Cape Town bomb squad were deployed to the scene.
The police cordoned off a section of Plein Street outside the Town Hall and evacuated the surrounding buildings, including the Stellenbosch Public Library.
The police cordoned off a section of Plein street in Stellenbosch during a bomb scare. PHOTO: Elri Voigt
An employee from the library, Sue Weerdenburg, was one of the people who got evacuated. She was working in the stacks, nearing the end of her shift. “The next thing someone is ringing our bell, ” Weerdenburg recalled.
According to Weerdenburg, “there was a cop standing there saying: ‘out, out, out’.”
Weerdenburg had just enough time to grab her cellphone before she and her colleagues were escorted out of the library.
Once they were outside they found out the nature of the threat.
“Then we were told it’s a bomb, ” Weerdenburg said.
This occurred at around 13:20.
By then the police had already cordoned off the section of Plein Street where it crosses Andringa street.
A security guard waits behind police tape at the intersection of Plein and Andringa street before the Cape Town Bomb Squad arrived to assess a suspicious package left in the parking area of the Town Hall. PHOTO: Elri Voigt
Jano Voigt, a high school student who had been attending Woordfees, was walking down Andringa Street, and came across the hazard tape across the Plein Street intersection at about 13:21.
“I didn’t think it was anything serious until I saw the fire brigade arrive,” he said.
Hazard tape kept bystanders at a safe distance and was later replaced with official police tape. Eventually the police moved the bystanders further back into Andringa Street.
The bomb squad arrived at about approximately 13:45.
A man in a full bomb suit investigated the package and confirmed that it was not a bomb. He handed the suitcase over to the police.
A member of the Cape Town Bomb Squad being suited up before inspecting the suspicious package, which turned out to be a brown suitcase. Supplied: by Jano Voigt
At approximately 14:30, Plein Street was opened once more, and Weerdenburg and her colleagues were allowed back into the library.