Armed guards stationed outside Shoprite in Ratanda following death of alleged shoplifter

HEIDELBERG - Armed security guards remain stationed outside a Shoprite supermarket in Ratanda in Heidelberg.

This follows tensions on Monday, when Bandile Tshabalala, accused of stealing a chocolate bar, died. 

It’s understood a store manager locked the 33-year-old in a room at the back of the supermarket after he was caught with a chocolate bar he did not pay for. 

On Monday, community members flocked to the Ratanda Mall where they protested over the circumstances surrounding Tshabalala’s death.

Although closed and heavily guarded, residents and patrons of surrounding restaurants and shops could on Tuesday still be seen hurling insults at the heavily armed men cloaked in olive uniforms and bulletproof vests on Tuesday.

However, the situation seemed to have died down by Tuesday morning. 

Eyewitness News spoke to the family of Bandile Tshabalala, who expressed their outrage with how police were handling the passing of their loved one.